The Green Fighting Machine

Cindy, Tim, Pam, Joe, Dave, Warren and Ray

Lean, green fighting machine!  That appellation rather describes the squadron Tim and I joined these last two weeks in the war on poverty in Fort Myers, FL.  Our team was limited by the number of RVs the affiliate could host in the area behind the Habitat office, but despite that, we were mighty.  Neon green is not my favorite color but it looked good on our squad when we lined up for the team photo. 

This was a return trip to Fort Myers for Tim and I.  We were here last March, but this time we returned as team leaders, our first opportunity to lead a group of Care-A-Vanners in a build.  

Elisha Baird

Our prior knowledge of this affiliate as well as the Fort Myers area was definitely a boon as we liaisoned with Elisha Baird, the volunteer coordinator. 

Joe and Tim

A team leader’s responsibilities are to communicate with the Care-A-Vanners before and during the build.  At the introductory meeting of our team, we discussed parameters of the workweek, stages of the homes we would be working on and administrative details such as tracking the number of hours we worked on the construction site.  

Although we were prepared to lead devotions each morning before the day’s work began, we welcomed others who might volunteer for this task.  Then, we got to the fun stuff—social events for the two weeks we’ll be together.   Evening happy hours and Friday night dinners out at the nearby waterfront restaurant, Cactus Jack’s, and at the barbeque place, Smoke’N Pit, down the street were planned.

But wouldn’t you know it!  Pam and I, the two women on the team, became the only casualties of this build.  Pam took a chunk out of the pad of one finger while she was using the power drill.  I fell and twisted my knee, sidelining me for several days until the swelling went down.  

Pam and Tim

However, those two setbacks did not prevent the team from completing the jobs assigned to us.  

Ray & Dave

Framing and drop-down ceilings were nailed, windows and doors were hung, 

Warren

outside soffits and blue boards were installed, and with the help of a class from a local high school, stucco was painted on two houses. 

All in all, I’d say we won this skirmish. 

Nailed It!

That's the motto of the Fort Myers affiliate of Habitat for Humanity and that's exactly what we did during these two past weeks of working at their build site.

We nailed door frames

and baseboards 

and soffits underneath the roof.  

We installed cabinets 

And windows

and a patio sliding door. 

During our two weeks on the Fort Myers job site, a single mom Eva who has two autistic children accumulated 18 hours of sweat equity as she worked alongside us. 

Mornings were a little chilly

But once Gabe, our site manager, assigned us a job, 

We quickly warmed up!

Clockwise from upper left:  Ron, Barry and Janet

Our team was smaller this time around.  That's because there are only a few camping spots behind the Fort Myers Habitat office for RVs to park.  

But we were mighty and with the help of students on Spring Break last week, we accomplished a lot.

In fact, we nailed it!

Edison's Winter Quarters

March 6, 1885 is considered the most important date in the history of Fort Myers, FL, for it was on that day that Thomas Alva Edison landed in this sleepy Gulf coast town.  Thirty-eight-year-old Edison came on the advice of his physician who warned him that unless he left the cold winters of West Orange, NJ, he would never recover from his lung ailment.  And so he came, bringing fame and the subsequent reporters and tourists who sought him out.

Edison purchased property on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River and built his modest winter home there.  A laboratory where Edison could continue his eighteen hour workdays soon followed. 

Then he added a guest house and connected it to the original with a covered walkway. 

A swimming pool soon followed 

As well as a study,

And a caretaker's cottage with a 3-car garage.  

Why did he need a 3-car garage?  Because his next door neighbor Henry Ford periodically presented new models to him.  

Ford who resigned as chief engineer from Edison's company to start an automobile factory gave his mentor new models as they rolled off the factory line.  

He also bought the Fort Myers property next door to Edison.  

Last week a fellow Habitat volunteer Barry, Tim and I paid a visit to the estates of these two friends.  The young historian who led our tour group had plethora of facts and anecdotes to tell about both men.  

I didn't know that Edison and I share a similar affliction: we are both deaf.  When he dined at his home in Florida, he liked to sit at the head of the table facing the river so he could appreciate the view even though he couldn't follow the dinner conversation.  When he finished eating, he would abruptly rise and go on about his business, leaving his guests to fend for themselves.  He much preferred to converse with his guests one on one.  Me, too!

Not only did Ford and Edison spend winters in close proximity, they also, along with rubber tire magnate Harvey Firestone and naturalist John Burroughs, went camping together.  Calling themselves as "The Vagabonds," their first camping trip was to the Florida Everglades in 1914 and for the next 10 years their trips continued up and down the Eastern seaboard and inland as far as Tennessee.  

One of Edison's interests was botany.  He planted a botanical garden on the estate.  During World War I, he searched for a native plant that would produce rubber in the hope of easing the shortage of tires.

Edison's inventions are incorporated into his home. 

For 50 years the Edisons wintered here in Fort Myers.  A decade after his death in 1931, his widow gave the estate to the city.  

We are all the beneficiaries of that gift.

Spring Break In Ft. Myers

Spring Break in Florida conjures up students searching for sandy beaches and fun in the sun.  Yet, instead of a week of self-gratification, two companies of students have labored alongside us this week as we built four homes for low-income families in Fort Myers, FL.

Thirty-seven students from the University of Hartford left the cold temperatures of Connecticut for a working holiday with Habitat for Humanity.  Tim and I drove up to the job site on our first day to find a big bus pulling away from the curb after disgorging the group.  

Clad in tank tops and tennis shoes instead of sturdy boots and jeans, they wrapped one house with Tyvek and installed insulation in another.  

Then they moved on the next day to another location for a fresh service project.  One of the girls, Hilary, told me they had a different service project scheduled for each day this week.  We were lucky they chose our Habitat build on Tuesday.

This morning the Honor Society from Mariner High School in nearby Cape Coral showed up to work.  

I toiled with a trio of high school boys to install windows in one of the homes.  Planing the window frame with the use of a power saw was their favorite chore of the day.  They were quick learners and I was sad to see them go.

For this build in Fort Myers, our group of Care-a-Vanners (Habitat volunteers who travel from job site to job site in their recreational vehicles) is small; there are only five of us.  

I have trailed after Janet all week like a baby duck scurrying after its mama.  Her construction skills are phenomenal, but perhaps that comes with her job of managing properties in Chicago; that, and as she says, "growing up poor" without the means to hire help.  The two men are widowers with lots of expertise.  

Ron has traveled all the way from Oregon to participate in this build.  Barry dodged my camera all week. He has been at the Fort Myers build site for the past month and plans to work another two weeks after we depart on Easter.  Add Tim and I into the mix and that's it!  Spring Break the Habitat Way!