March 16, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Reaching out to hurricane victims
MLK Day sets off Habitat House in a Box
by Jennifer Katz

Volunteers from the Philadelphia area work on the interior of a Habitat for Humanity House building project in Lafayette, La., that was presented to a New Orleans family left homeless from Hurricane Katrina. The first phase of the project was started on the Jan. 16, 2006, MLK Day of service at King High School in Mt. Airy. The framing materials were then trucked to Lafayette where about 18 volunteers from the Philadelphia area, including employees from Prudential Fox and Roach Realtors, helped complete the 11th annual King Day of Service project, which saw 50,000 volunteers serving in some 600 projects throughout the greater Philadelphia area.

Started in a school parking lot in Mt. Airy, and finished on a street in Lafayette, La., inspired by tragedy and infused with a collective spirit of compassion. It is a house and it is a home.

For Denise and Leo Collins and their 12-year-old son, Leo Jr., it is a new start after losing their home and all of their belongings to Hurricane Katrina last fall.

The first phase of construction for this house was actually started in the parking lot of Martin Luther King High School on Stenton Ave. as part of the 11th annual MLK Day of Service. Founder and Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service, Todd Bernstein, arranged for the Habitat for Humanity “House in a Box” to be this year’s signature project in commemoration of King’s legacy.

“Dr. King once said in a speech that we must have a world perspective and that no nation can stand alone and no individual can stand alone,” said Bernstein.

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the south, Habitat for Humanity International created Operation Home Delivery, a.k.a. House in a Box, according to Philadelphia Habitat for Humanity Executive Director, Timothy B. Block, to ensure that the more than 100 worldwide affiliates could assist families displaced by the storms.

“The idea of House in a Box was to allow any affiliate anywhere in the country to start construction on a house and then to ship the house to its final destination to aid the Habitat affiliates in the south,” explained Block.

Bernstein and Block were working together to bring the House in a Box to fruition for the MLK Day of Service, when Prudential, Fox and Roach Realtors — The Trident Group of the Delaware Valley — contacted Block with an offer to fund the project.

“Our owners had challenged all of the employees and agents to raise money for hurricane relief and vowed to match the first $100,000,” said Avie Wheeler, director of Fox and Roach charities. Combined with a matching contribution from Prudential Financial, the company raised over $350,000 which was sent to hurricane relief, leaving the original $100,000 promised by company owners, Larry Flick, Gerry Geisser and Jim Waters.

“We had been interested in working with Habitat for Humanity for a long time,” Wheeler said. “And this project was the perfect fit.”

Over 100 volunteers from Prudential, Fox and Roach joined with YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School and AmeriCorps volunteers to assist the city and Habitat volunteers with the initial construction on Jan. 16, the MLK Day of Service.

“More than just one day of volunteering, this event serves as a springboard to ongoing community involvement,” said Bernstein. “It is the hope that these efforts will have a long lasting benefit to the community and help to the concerns people have about these issues into citizen action.”

In addition to building the house, volunteers also built a two-story playground and playhouse for the Stenton Family Manor Homeless Shelter for the children.

“While we recognize the critical need of those who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina we are also concerned about those who live in our own communities,” Bernstein said. Indeed, more than 50,000 volunteers participated in over 600 projects during Philadelphia’s 11th annual MLK Day of Service making it the nation’s largest King Day service event in the nation.

For the Collins family, it has been a long hard road from fleeing their New Orleans apartment just before Katrina struck to finding their way to Lafayette, where Leo works two jobs while they await the completion of their new three-bedroom home. On Feb. 19, a convoy of volunteers from Philadelphia, including Bernstein, Block, a dozen Prudential employees and members of YouthBuild and AmeriCorps traveled with the house to Lafayette to continue the construction of 704 E. Gilman Rd. The house sits on a street, one of four Habitat homes slated for hurricane survivors all from other parts of the country – one from Oregon and two from Bergen County, New Jersey.

Melinda Taylor, executive director of Lafayette Habitat for Humanity, estimates that the Collins will be able to move into their new home by May 1.

“We wanted to do more than just write a check, we wanted to do something tangible,” said Wheeler.