There's No Place Like Home
New Hampshire Students Build Houses and Help Disaster Victims Restart Their Lives
Release Date: April 4, 2007
Release Number: Con-01-02
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 A There's No Place Like Home volunteer completes drywall work. FEMA Photo/Marty Bahamonde  A student volunteer working for There's No Place Like Home. FEMA Photo/ Marty Bahamonde |
Sitting in a dusty and cluttered garage in Somersworth, New Hampshire is a house. It's a three bedroom house and in mid-April it will set out on a journey to Cutoff, Louisiana, the culmination of months of hard work, planning, and dreaming.
The non-profit faith based organization, There's No Place Like Home (TNPLH), is donating this house and all of it's contents to a family in Cutoff who lost their home as a result of Hurricane Katrina. It has been more than a year and a half in the planning stages but it has become a daily passion of TNPLH's Executive Director Paula Young.
"I couldn't stop watching TV following the hurricane and was so filled with emotion for those who lost everything - I knew that I couldn't just sit here and do nothing," said Young. "I wasn't sure what I could do or how I could help but then I remembered there was a program at Somersworth Technical School that built houses and the idea just hit me."
Brian Patterson spends everyday at Somersworth teaching high school students the craft of homebuilding. He has been doing it for years. When Young approached him with her idea he immediately said yes. Young also approached Grace Community Church for their help and they have been a driving force behind the project.
The idea was to take the students completed house and to donate it to a family who had lost their home in Hurricane Katrina. That one house was the start of a program that is unlike any other in the country, high school students building houses for disaster victims.
"It is such a win-win program for everyone," said Young. "Here in New Hampshire we have these students who are learning a craft of building a house that they can turn into careers while at the same time taking their efforts and helping a family who has lost everything by giving them a new home. It gives the kids a lot of pride and a real purpose for coming to school everyday. These are kids who haven't always had the easiest path in life and this program is as much for them as it is for the family's receiving the homes. It really is changing lives at both ends."
What makes TNPLH even more amazing is the outpouring of support it has received from the business community. Everything used to build and furnish these homes is donated by national and local businesses. One of those is F.W. Webb a locally based plumbing, heating and air conditioning company.
Michael O'Shea is the General Manager and he said when he heard of the program, it was a no brainer to get involved with. "One of our customers who was helping the students with instruction on installing heating, ventilating and air conditioning units approached me about getting involved by donating materials and I immediately jumped on the idea," said O'Shea. "What better way is there to help our young kids in our community learn a trade and also help someone at the other end put their lives back together, I can't think of one. I have the opinion that local businesses have a civic duty to help out their communities and projects like TNPLH are what more businesses should get involved in."
Fortunately for Young and TNPLH, the sell has been a relatively easy one.
"The outpouring of support from the business community has been overwhelming. We currently have 44 businesses donating to the project either with products or cash contributions. Without there support this wouldn't be possible."
Major companies like Bluewood Northeast and New England Homes have jumped in to help. Young knows that the future success of this program lies with the business community's help. Already TNPLH has nine other technical schools in New Hampshire committed to building homes and she hopes to take the program nationally.
"It is something that isn't being done in this country and it is a way for everyone to help others," said Young.
The homes that are built are standard three bedroom, two bath, 1,100 square feet home. Young hopes that each school can build two homes a year. The first two homes have been built were for Hurricane Katrina victims, but they have just started construction on a third home that will go to a New Hampshire family that lost their home in the Mother's Day floods last year.
"Knowing that we can be involved with local kids and a local cause is personal to me," said O'Shea. "Donating some supplies and knowledge is a small price to pay for changing the lives of our kids and disaster victims as well. We are committed to this project for the long-term. I just can't imagine not being involved."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has also joined forces with TNPLH. Using decades of knowledge in home construction to mitigate against future damages, FEMA has committed to helping share that knowledge with students as they build these homes. From instructing them on flood proofing ideas for homes to simple techniques on how to strengthen a home from high winds from a hurricane are just some of the ways FEMA has gotten involved.
"Knowing that we have the support and participation from the federal government in this project is another big step in our growth," said Young. "This has become so much more than I ever thought possible and the outpouring of support from everyone is really uplifting."
Note: Anyone wanting to assist TNPLH can contact Continuum and we will put you in touch with the organization.Last Modified: Tuesday, 29-Jan-2008 09:57:49