Published: March 26, 2008 03:48 pm            

Chicago teens spend spring break in Hendricks County

PLAINFIELD, Ind. — With spring break quickly approaching, most area high schoolers will spend the next 48 hours lobbying parents for that impromptu trip to a warmer climate. However, a visiting group of Chicago teens has elected to trade in sunscreen for screwdrivers in an effort to assist Hendricks County’s Habitat for Humanity with ongoing construction projects in Plainfield and Danville.

“We just thought it’d be fun,” said Glenbrook, Ill., teen Katie Garrity. “None of us really had anything else to do or anywhere else to go.”

Garrity says that she has participated in Habitat projects in Michigan in previous years and that many of her friends have done similar projects in New Orleans to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina.

At the Plainfield site, volunteers spent much of Wednesday constructing a mini-barn and removing a dilapidated house from the corner of North Vine Street.

Habitat Executive Director Craig Brighton said the foundation for a new house at that location will be poured sometime in mid-April.

“They’ve been dying to do some tearing down today,” Brighton said. “This is the first time we’ve had a week-long camp like this and this has been a great group and I hope we can get them back here every year.”

Brighton credited a $66,000 grant from the Thrivent Financial Corporation for making the most recent Habitat projects possible. He also noted that the new house will mark the fifth of its kind on Vine Street and will fill the last vacant space on the block.

Avon resident and Habitat Construction Manager Dave Chenault says that the projects are going well and that he is hopeful that the weather will remain agreeable for the rest of the week.

“It’s nice today, but we don’t know about the next few days so hopefully that won’t set us back,” Chenault said. “But this is an excellent group and excellent workers and I’ve invited them back this summer when we start framing.”

Chenault has been with Habitat for four years after retiring from Cinergy.

“I wanted something to do and I didn’t want to sit around,” he said. “It’s the best full-time part-time job you’ll ever have.”

The Plainfield project marks the first Habitat experience for several volunteers, including Garrity’s friend and classmate, Lisa Goese.

Goese says she has enjoyed her first home-building experience thus far and plans to participate again.

“I’d always wanted to do Habitat and then I heard they were having this spring break trip and I wanted to come along,” Goese said. “I want to do it this summer too.”

Brighton and Chenault both noted that Hendricks County Habitat is actively seeking both construction volunteers and applications for prospective house residents.

“Just by county income statistics we know that 18 percent would qualify,” Brighton said. “We know they are there, it’s just locating them and getting them to apply.”

For more information on volunteer opportunities with Habitat, call Karen Arnold at 313-3154. For more information on resident applications for Habitat homes, call 272-1405.





Brian Kern writes for the Hendricks County Flyer in Avon, Ind.

        

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