Day Nine: Build in Newburgh, NY

We woke at 0630 to head to Newburgh, NY. We set out to help the very active Habitat chapter located there. Newburgh Habitat's quest is to provide housing for the 1800 eligible families in the city. We helped them move bricks and furniture. These may seem like fairly menial tasks, but they do help in the ultimate goal of building more houses.

Two alums visited us at the build site: Liz Smietana NC2SD'07 and Eric Siegel P2S'07. Apparently, my reputation precedes me.

Dave Miller quietly slipped off this morning, after the first van shuttle to the build site. A few people mentioned that they were sad to not have said proper goodbyes. We'll all miss Dave, especially me.

We had our first mail pickup today in Poughkeepesie, NY. The group is happier for the influx of letters and cookies.

We had an affordable housing meeting tonight, where we discussed some of the basic FAQs of Habitat for Humanity and other housing programs. I missed much of the meeting, as I was working on people's bicycles. Derailleurs and brakes are all going haywire after a break-in period and a few days of wet, hilly riding. I wish I weren't the only person doing this work.