Construction continues full bore at Habitat build

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/07/2017 (3026 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn may have abruptly left the Habitat for Humanity build site Thursday, but the show — or build — still went on.

By mid-afternoon, a few hours after the 92-year-old Jimmy Carter was taken to St. Boniface General Hospital as a precaution to be rehydrated, the sound of hammers and saws was still singing out over a street of new houses rapidly being erected.

“In the spirit of the Carters, everyone is carrying on,” said Sandy Hopkins, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Manitoba, as he watched a portion of the 600 volunteers at the site Thursday working on the 21 houses being built on Lyle Street. Sixteen of them will stay on site while another five are being built as ready-to-move homes to be transported to sites elsewhere in the city.

“His instructions as he left were clear: keep building. Keep hydrated. That’s what we are doing and we are very happy with the progress being made.”

The Carters were in the city as part of their Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project. The 34th work project is building a total of 150 homes across the country to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary.

The Carters were in Edmonton Sunday and participated in the building project there Monday through Wednesday before flying to Winnipeg where they were expected to work Thursday and Friday on the homes, with the closing ceremony Friday evening.

But even though the star participants had left the site, there was still a lot of work to be done to get the homes to lockup stage by Friday afternoon.

Whether it was the overhangs being built over front porches, the insulation being put on the outside of the homes, or the framing of rooms going on inside each home, the progress was at the same stage it would have been had the Carters still been at the site, Hopkins said.

“The mood of the people here is still very upbeat and positive,” he said.

“It may have slowed things down for a while because people were concerned, but then everybody got back to work.”

At the home designated “Carter House”, the one which Carter and his wife were working on when he became stricken, soon-to-be homeowner Todd Gauthier was hard at work with the rest of the volunteer crew.

“My house is still going up just as Mr. Carter would have wanted — we are still going,” Gauthier said.

“He was assembling the steps. I’ve left some work for him on them for (Friday). He’s not skipping out two days on me,” he added with a laugh.

By mid-afternoon, Gauthier’s house had seen a great deal of progress, including the installation of all windows and exterior doors.

“Everything is still going and we’ll come (Friday) and see what happens.”

Paul Hiebert of Winnipeg said this was his fifth time volunteering to build homes with Habitat after being part of the 1993 build in Winnipeg. That experience spurred him to attend other builds in Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., and Washington D.C.

Hiebert said construction still continues even if the Carters aren’t there.

“You honour the man, you honour the woman,” Hiebert said.

“We want to show them we’re here to make them proud.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca