Made it to 10! Our Pacific Northwest Quest

Hi everyone!

Enjoying a sunny lunch 

break in OR

You know, everyone always asks you to find your “why”. Your gym trainer asks you to find your “why” so you lose weight. Your professor tells you to find your “why” to direct your career path. Your kids tell you to find your “why” because, well, they want to know “why” for every possible situation. After three and a half years of serving with Habitat for Humanity, I really sat down and tried to pinpoint exactly why I was doing this. When I first started I thought I was just merging a love of travel with a passion for serving others. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a perk. But as I’ve continued volunteering I’ve come to realize that this is more than a fun trip or a few days here and there of getting my hands dirty. It is truly something I think God has led me to do over the course of my life. I feel that my spiritual gift is that of service, and God has given me a way to serve Him by helping others find a safe place to live. 

Our "beach" vs. the cold in MN

I’ve moved many times over the past 10 years for college and for other jobs. While I hate leaving my family and friends, I always feel better once I settle into my new place, giving it my own personal touch with things that make it feel like a home and not just a house. I feel like I can tackle whatever life has in store for me if I have a place I can come back to each night to regroup and feel restored. For people receiving a Habitat home, this is the feeling I want them to have. To qualify for a Habitat home a family first and foremost must have a need for it. I’ve met families who have had their homes destroyed by a hurricane, to those who face overcrowding for their growing family, or who are living in a home that has electrical problems, mold, or is simply too run down to be repaired safely. I can only imagine the feelings of uncertainty and fear these folks face as they try to secure a safe place to live for their loved ones, all the while still trying to hold it together and carry on a normal life. 

By working on these homes I have a chance to give them a sense of normalcy; I can give them a place to raise a family where they don’t have to make the decision to either fix the roof or feed their children a full meal instead. Did you know that living in a Habitat home increases the chance of a child graduating from high school by 17%, and they are twice as likely to go to college? I volunteer with Habitat for Humanity because I want to give people a chance to focus on their goals and dreams instead of drowning in debt in a home that doesn’t feel like one. In the last three and a half years my hands have touched fifteen projects in ten states, and I have never felt more confident that taking the plunge and starting out on this goal was worth it. 

Mural found in the Tacoma 

remodel

I know this post is longer than usual, but looking back after completing my first ten states I really wanted to give you all a better picture of why I’m out here doing this. Hopefully some of you will want to be a part of it too and will go out and volunteer! If you ever have questions about volunteering with Habitat reach out to me, I would love to have you on a build with me or get you set up to do one on your own in your area. I promise you it is so worth it! 


After all that I bet you’re wondering where I’ve been to check off my first ten states; this time I flew out to check out the Pacific Northwest and volunteered in Portland, Oregon and Tacoma, Washington. Best of all, this was my second time having someone come out to build with me. My friend Jason came with me to build; it was his first time building with Habitat and he agreed to come out west with me to try it out, how cool is that? The trip was so much fun and we made some great memories sightseeing during our off days, but I’ll have to leave those stories for another time (or perhaps even another blog? Help me 
decide!). For now, let’s focus on the work we got to do for these awesome Habitat chapters. Let’s get to it!


Morning Jazzercize and Painting Parties in Portland, OR

Painting ceilings

Jason and I were able to spend two solid days working with the Portland/Metro East Habitat chapter, and we launched into volunteering the day after we arrived in Oregon. This chapter was currently working on a group of fifteen housing units in various duplexes and triplexes on one lot, each in a varied state of completion. We were a bit tired but the team woke us up right away with a hot cup of coffee and a round of morning jazzercize. I for one was READY FOR IT and loved limbering up with the other volunteers in the crisp morning air. This was a fun and unique spin on morning group meetings that I really enjoyed! It was a bit chilly with temperatures in the low thirties in the mornings, but man after sticking it out for a few hours we enjoyed balmy 50-60 degree weather in the afternoons. That was a 50 degree difference from the weather back in Minnesota at that time, uffda!

After we all had a good laugh warming up Jason and I joined a small group of volunteers tasked with painting the interior walls of one of the units. Jason and I donned our fashionable blue ponchos to cover our clothing and got to work painting several bedrooms. To be honest, the ponchos weren’t that helpful and our clothes have definitely been designated forevermore as our construction clothes. But hey, it’s no fun if you’re not getting a little messy right?

Jason had a blast building!

In each room we first had to “cut” the corners of the room to prepare it for painting. Taking a smaller paint brush we painted along any area where walls met to create a corner, about two or three inches per side. By doing so we were able to ensure that those areas were thoroughly painted, because the paint rollers would not be able to get far enough into those areas to cover it properly. After that we used rollers to paint the ceilings, and then the walls, white. I’ll tell you what, it is such a pain in the butt to paint white walls, more white! It’s difficult to see so I felt I was constantly taking a step back to check and see if I missed a spot, but we managed alright. By the end of the day we finished two bedrooms, part of the living room which we worked on with the whole group, and a small closet.

Warmed up after morning jazzercize

The next day we did the same thing, starting with another round of morning jazzercize to get everyone ready for a busy day. Jason and I tackled painting the interior of the unit next door to the one we nearly completed the day before. This time we worked alongside the future homeowners of one of the units taping, cutting, and then painting the ceiling and walls of the entire upstairs portion of the unit. Jason and I worked hard all day until we literally ran out of paint! Looking at our work it still looked, well, white. But Jason had a great time at his first new construction build and we felt accomplished with what we did at the end of the day.

Feeling accomplished after checking off state 9

(State 1 for Jason!)

*During our second day I was honored to be interviewed by a representative from the chapter to talk about my Habitat experience! Here’s a link to the article they wrote if you want to check it out! Lisa's Portland Volunteer Spotlight

Checking off State 10 in Tacoma, WA

Tacoma remodel

After taking a few days off to explore Portland and the surrounding area, Jason and I took a drive up to Seattle, Washington to continue exploring and to build again with Habitat. Our Habitat site was actually located in Tacoma, which is about an hour south of where we were staying. Unfortunately traffic in Seattle is so bad that we had to wake up at 5:30am to leave even though we didn’t start until 8:45am. For both days we built with Tacoma we drove down early and took a nap in the car at the site until everyone else arrived. Despite waking up early, Jason and I were ready to go as we set out to work on a remodel that the Tacoma chapter was working on.

Measuring 

sheet rock

We were told that this is the first remodel that this Habitat chapter has ever done, so it was a very exciting project to work on. The home sat vacant for approximately ten years before the city sold it to the chapter. Tacoma/Pierce County has about 500 vacant homes, and if this project goes well for both Habitat and the county it could become a huge opportunity to renovate homes and revitalize Tacoma communities. This particular home was at a point where they were preparing to mud and tape the walls in the main living room in order to paint over what was left. We also needed to tape plastic over the floorboards and windows so they wouldn’t be damaged during painting. In the morning Jason and I worked alongside a group from Regence, one of the chapter’s sponsors, to tape everything in the front rooms.

Just before midday Jason and I transitioned to sheet rocking one of the bedroom closets. It took us the rest of the day and we still didn’t finish it! I’ve done sheet rocking before, it really isn’t all that difficult. You simply measure around the area you need cut, cut the board, and then screw it into the wall snugly. However, this home is so old that the walls warped a bit, and they were no longer even. In fact, every wall in the closet area sloped! This made it very difficult for us to measure correctly, and it took us much longer than anticipated to finish the project. At the end of the day we left and had a drink at a tavern across the street with our site supervisor and one of the regular Regence volunteers. It was nice taking a little time out of the day to sit down and get to know them a bit more, since our group worked steadily throughout the afternoon and didn’t have a lot of time for chatting. The group from Regence volunteers a few times a month to help with the chapter’s builds, which I thought was awesome. It’s great to see businesses actively supporting a good cause and having an active role in making change in their community.

Screwing in 

sheet rock

On our second day Jason and I finished the first closet, and then moved on to a second one. We encountered the same issues with sloping as the first, as well as some issues with not being able to find studs to screw the material into. We also had to learn to work together in a very confined space, which also proved challenging at times. It was nice having a friend to work with that day, and we shared a lot of laughs alongside some of the minor frustrations we experienced. Jason and I got creative though, and by working together we were able to finish some of the more challenging portions of the work and set up the next group for success. No one else was scheduled to build on the site that day so it was just us with the two main site workers. The site workers worked on mudding and taping the rest of the living room, while Jason and I were left to our own devices to get most of the second closet done. During the day we also had a chance to meet the Director of Construction for the Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat chapter. He walked through to check on the progress being made on the home and we had a nice time talking to him about the work they are doing in the county. Our conversation helped give us motivation to finish as much as we could by the end of the afternoon.

Prying frame 

off wall to make

room for sheet rock

I think it’s safe for me to say that both Jason and I truly had a great time building together with all the people we met along the way. For most of our time at both builds we worked with a large group of volunteers, all of whom had their own special stories of where they came from and why they were volunteering. Though the tasks we completed during these two builds didn’t require an immense amount of skill or know-how, it brought these chapters one step closer to achieving their mission of helping real people with real families find their real forever homes. I cannot advocate enough for all of you reading to jump in and volunteer sometime if you have the chance to. Even if you aren’t interested in building, find your passion and pursue it, especially if you can do something to support others. Sometimes I can’t help feeling that I am the one that receives the most benefit from these projects by experiencing firsthand the kindness of others, and how we can all come together to better our communities.

With ten states down, I am as excited as ever to figure out where my next build will be, and who I'll get to bring with!

Regence/Habitat Crew

Until next time,

Lisa