A group of local Marines and out-of-state volunteers came together this week to help make the dream of homeownership a reality for three New Bern families.
Twenty-five members of the Single Marine Program (SMP) from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock joined Habitat for Humanity’s Disaster Relief Team from Frederick County, Maryland to put the finishing touches on one house and raise the walls on two others. All three homes are located on Aycock Avenue in Pembroke and represent the latest efforts by Habitat for Humanity of Craven County to bring new homes to the New Bern community.
Chuck Hawley, team leader with Habitat For Humanity’s Frederick Disaster Relief Mission Team, said his group brought 15 members to help with the construction projects and planned to stay on-site through Friday.
Hawley said his team has been traveling throughout the country to assist with disaster relief and other needs since 2006. The team has been coming down to New Bern from Maryland to work on Habitat projects for the last several years.
“In total, this is the 33rd week that we’ve been out on disaster recovery,” Hawley said. “We’ve worked here for a total of six weeks. We came in the spring and fall of 2019 and then COVID shut us down in 2020.”
According to Hawley, the average age of his team members is 66.
“They love being able to go out and do this,” he commented. “We do a week at a time and we just pick up wherever we need to. Right now we’re upwards of 19,000 volunteer hours we’ve put in.”
“Our group is a bunch of old farts,” joked team member Jairo Gracia, who said he had been with the Frederick Relief group since its inception.
Gracia said he had worked on approximately 20 projects so far.
“I love it. For me it’s fun. I had no real construction experience before and now I have just about every tool you can imagine,” he commented.
Another team member, Greg Postle, said he became involved during one of the group’s first major projects, a 2007 trip to Buloxi, Miss. to assist with hurricane repairs.
“I got involved to help people and to do something concrete where you could see results,” Postle said. “Also, my grandfather worked on road crews in southern Dade County, Fla. He took a homesteader shack and turned it into a nice two-bedroom house that’s still standing, so this is kind of paying it forward.”
The members of the MCAS Single Marine Program team worked side by side with the Frederick County Habitat team over the last week.
SMP member Rainer Zeiber said the program assists Habitat for Humanity throughout the year.
“As long as they need volunteers the SMP is coordinating with that in one way or another. They’ll get any Marine who wants to do it out here to do it,” he noted.
Zeiber said other SMP members would be volunteering at Tryon Palace and the Craven-Pamlico Animal Shelter throughout the week.
“I came out and did this last year with Habitat for Humanity and it’s just a great time. You get to learn things. I did not do any construction work before this,” Zeiber said. “And it feels good, you know you’re helping somebody who needs it.”
According to Michael Piraino, Craven Habitat’s community outreach and development coordinator, two of the houses under construction on Aycock Avenue are scheduled to be completed in September while the third has an anticipated home dedication date of April 29.
Tracey Lily, Craven Habitat’s executive director, described the role of the volunteers as essential to the nonprofit’s work in the county.
“Volunteers are very important to us,” Lily said. “As many hours as it saves us we’re probably able to get the houses done three or four months quicker.”
By Todd Wetherington, co-editor. Send an email with questions or comments.