Damon Smith retired in 2002 but has been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity since 2008, contributing to more than 30 builds in the area. He enjoys the work, but also enjoys assisting those who need help. While a handful of longtime volunteers like Smith can be found on the job site, Habitat is seeking new volunteers after a dip in participation over the last couple of years.
Smith said he ended up assisting with Habitat after years of doing other volunteer work.
“I had my own work trailer for a long time, and if there was a hurricane or a tornado anywhere in the eastern United States, I’d pack up and get down there and work on it,” he said. “I’ve been retired since 2002 and I enjoy this kind of work. Knowing that people need help and that the Scriptures teach us to help, why not do it?”
Smith said he still has the know-how for all the skills involved, but his age has diminished his ability to do many of them.
“But with new people coming on, I can teach,” he said. “You’d be surprised how many people have never held a hammer before or have never used a saw before. I’ve been a job leader with Habitat on a couple of houses. Just follow the blueprints and it works. We have a skilled crew, but always love to have new volunteers.”
Jeremy Stephens, incoming executive director for the local Habitat, said one of his first major goals is trying to drive up the interest among people in the community that might have a heart or the opportunity to volunteer.
“We’ve been in this community for almost 40 years now, and we have been extremely blessed to have community members for all that time come out and share our love for the mission of providing good shelter for good people,” he said.
Stephens said over the last couple of years, Habitat has been hit by the combination of traditional volunteers stepping back and a limited number of new faces stepping up. He said Habitat has slowed down over the last couple years in terms of the number of homes built, but “not once from 2020 all the way till now have we ever stopped building.”
Stephens said he also hopes people can see the bigger picture in what Habitat is doing by providing homes in the community.
“The cost of living has gone up and the need for affordable housing has gone up, but the opportunity for it has gone down,” he said. “There are less and less rental homes available, and rental homes are generally more expensive anyway. Home ownership is not unattainable, but it is difficult. So the need goes up and the opportunity goes down, our goal is to meet those folks in the middle and provide a bridge to home ownership. We’re looking to do that for as many people as we can in this community.”
Stephens hopes to start building more frequently as things go back to normal, as long as Habitat has the volunteers to help get the work done.
They are currently working on two homes (build numbers 149 and 150 for the local organization) on West 5th Street, one on either side of a finished house — and the one in the middle is also a Habitat build.
The 150th home is actually a little further along in the building process than the 149th. Stephens said that’s because Habitat has partnered with the Home Builders Association of Owensboro for the 150th home.
Noting that “those guys don’t mess around,” Stephens said the HBAO workers have so much experience that they can put a house up more quickly than Habitat’s volunteers.
“They’re the ones who are the ones providing all the labor,” Stephens said. “Whenever a house is sponsored by HBAO, our volunteers aren’t used very much. They go in and they do all the stuff that our volunteers would do. But we like doing that because that means we can work on two houses at once.”
Anyone interested in volunteering can do so by calling Habitat at 270-926-0661, sending them a message on Facebook, or stop by the office at 2930 W. 4th Street. Stephens said experience is helpful but not necessary.
“Some of our volunteers are retired from this industry, and they’re familiar with the code and they know exactly what to do and they know how to kind of train people. So it’s definitely not always necessary to know how to do the building process, because we’ve got good folks in place to guide them along that process.”
Smith said while it’s rewarding to help change someone’s life, there’s also an added benefit of making meaningful connections with other volunteers.
“It not only is helping the new homeowner, but there’s a lot of camaraderie that goes on,” he said. “Each one of these guys that’s here that has been around for a long time, we help each other out. We know what our hobbies are. We can joke. We have solved a lot of world problems. It’s just good, good, hard, honest work. At times somebody will get a splinter or a strain, but we take care of each other.”
