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Published: June 28th 2018
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This morning I woke to my alarm and it felt odd to wake up not near my K2C friends. We had breakfast—including banana walnut muffins!?—had our route meeting about the AH cause in Raleigh, loaded up the vans, I grabbed the stuff for the fundraiser tonight from the trailer, and hit the road. I helped Safety Nav Ryan as Jess got us pumped up with some awesome jams! It felt good to show up to the build site fired up and ready to work!
The day promised to be a hot one so everyone applied their sunscreen as we signed in and heard about Wake County Habitat. It’s one of the largest and has grown even larger in the last 5 years. They build more homes than any of the other H4H we’ve encountered and they also build in other countries through a 1 for 1 program and even go to them once a year to help build. The neighborhood we worked in was full of Habitat homes—some with folks already living in them, some that were all at about the same spot in terms of how far along they are.
Jana, Carly, NJ, Noah, Magpie, and I went
up the hill to work on some siding on a house Lincoln was in charge of. Carly, Jana, & I worked on finishing the front of the house as Noah, NJ, & Magpie finished the side. It was hot in the sun but by working on the porch we were given some grace from the heat. The jams & company helped ☺️
We took a break for lunch around 11:30 we were spoiled with Mac & cheese, pulled pork, apples, more watermelon sour patch kids, and tons of other goodies—including cheese balls and zebra-like cakes. We ate in a house that was getting its paperwork cleared to move into tomorrow & good to go for Saturday! Crazy! Magpie fell asleep in the middle of the floor with everyone around her & slept straight through the afternoon—her body must really be taking a toll!
The afternoon was short lived as we cut, fit, and nailed in the final piece for around the top of the window & door and then just helped clean up the garbage & insulation from inside the house. The afternoon was cut short due to the heat advisory so after putting the tools away &
cleaning up the excess supplies, we walked back down the hill to meet the rest of the crew and help clean up the tents & whatnot around there. After Carly got covered in sawdust and everything was put away, we hopped back into the van where I struggled to stay away while Safety Naving ?
It was a quick turn around with showers and an amazing dinner from Noah’s parents that included Chick-Fil-A tenders, penne with spinach in a blush sauce, more amazing brownies (as if the brownie with mint choc chip ice cream after the Build wasn’t amazing enough ?), and probably some fruit & veggies—these details are escaping me late at night a week later ?
We then piled into the vans and shuttled downtown to the Red Hat Amphitheater where we were running a booth to advertise about Bike & Build and try to raise money and awareness for Affordable housing. The monies raised was to be split 50/50 between Bike & Build and Wake County Habitat! So cool that we got to build with them and then turn around and raise money for them as well! The bands playing were Flogging Molly & Drop
Kick Murphys—some of us knew the bands and were excited to hear them live, while the younger friends of our team had no idea what was coming!
Since my team of Sarah, Chris, Ryan, Aiden, & myself was the last team to rotate to run the table, we waited for the golf cart escort while occupying our time playing “push each other over” and tableless arm wrestling along with NJ. When we arrived it was still really hot and the opener wasn’t on yet so Ryan, Sarah, & I walked a few blocks up to grab Starbucks where we sat and enjoyed the AC. After hearing about my sisters back issues, I told them about the crazy day of my dad’s funeral (my sister was in a car accident that totaled her car & she walked away! Hence back issues) and how he died. I haven’t talked about it much with many people—really only NJ & Aiden—so I asked them that if anyone asks to have them talk to me about it. They affirmed it was a safe space, which I really appreciated. ❤️
After ordering NJ’s venti iced latte & Magpie’s venti pink ombré drink, we walked
back to the concert and hung with the team a little. A little more energized, Sarah and I enjoyed the local brew and some shade while watching our teammates work their magic while enjoying the opener. It was then our turn to put on our jersey and get people to spin the wheel, give away stickers & socks, and buy raffle tickets while raising money & awareness for Affordable Housing. Though some teams struggled with rejection, Sarah had no fear in jumping in front of walker byers and convincing them to visit our table. It worked & we enjoyed the music along the way as well Flogging Molly took the stage!
Once our shift ended, Drop Kick Murphys was preparing to go on, so during intermission Ron, our Executive Director, challenged us to raise $50 in 30 minutes—to which we surpassed so he rewarded us with a pair of neon (ultra visible=ultra safety!) socks & a round on him! Most of our team had left to go to a local brewery where they could enjoy cheaper beer, but Sarah, NJ, Aiden, Beth, & I enjoyed the music and dancing while Ron helped man the table. Then the time came
to announce the winners of the raffles (jerseys, rain jackets, B&B branded beer tumblers, etc), so we texted the winners to come claim their prizes—one of which was a B&B alum!
We cleaned up and gathered the team as NJ & Beth ran to grab the van. As we waited for them to re-route due to the road closures, we posted up on a corner where we were able to raise more money & awareness for AH while we waited! This team is awesome!!
Shortly after the girls picked us up, we rode back to the host, & were in search of food—as always! I grabbed a few left over chicken tenders from CFA ? before showering again due to the excessive amount of sweat due to the heat & dancing, and crashed once again in quiet, lonely, but nice sanctuary with my thermarest & the promise of another good day ahead....
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