July 12, 2007

A hands-on experience

The Fullerton News Tribune asked volunteer Eleecia Barksdale to write a little bit about her recent experience at a taining day for Women Build members who are helping with Fullerton’s Habitat for Humanity project.

About Me: I was born and raised in Broadview, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. I moved here as a teenager. I am majoring in Communications at Cal State Fullerton. I work full-time and I am a full-time student. I currently live in Fullerton.

Why: When I first moved here, my mother and I had very little money and were faced with the challenge of trying to find affordable housing in Orange County.

We faced many obstacles in our search. In the end, because we could not meet the income requirements to rent an apartment, we ended up staying in various motels. As a result, most of my teenage years were spent moving from motel to motel, being exposed to many unsavory elements. I hate the thought of others having to go through the same thing that my family has. That’s why I volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

Construction challenges: I hammered nails, watched paint dry and listened to a safety speech, but nothing compared to the nail gun training. I don’t think I have ever held a power tool like the one I wielded today.

I thought that I was going to be using something similar to an electronic hammer. I knew I was way off when I heard the loud swoosh of air being sucked into the hollow of the nail gun from a cord connected to an air compressor.

I tried to mimic the stance of the instructor, who had seemingly without effort landed four perfectly spaced nails into the sample board. I guess I did not pay enough attention, because as soon as I attempted the same thing, three nails spouted out in random places on the board. After a few tries and some words of encouragement from the crowd, I finally executed a perfect imitation.

Experiences: In my previous experience with nonprofits, you raise money for some distant cause and the money is sent out for research and hopefully they find some kind of cure as a result.

Habitat for Humanity provides a different type of experience. I am able to see the results of my efforts in real time. Some examples of this would be: seeing the smiles on the faces of a Habitat family when they get the keys to their new home, watching the last tile being placed on the roof of a completed home or even seeing the first wall go up. When working for other nonprofits you sometimes don’t get to see the impact that your contributions have made.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to learn new construction techniques and bond with other women.