The Daily Times

The group of teens swung the hammers at the long nails, hoping to drive them into the plywood. To the trained eye, one could tell many of these teens had little experience with the tools.

Yet it didn’t dampen the spirits of the 16-member team from the Learn and Build program working on two Habitat for Humanity homes this past week.

“I’ve never done anything slightly handy in my life, said Allie Green, a 16-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pa. “Habitat isn’t as big in Pennsylvania.”

For Dayna Coppedge, the building experience is almost old hat. The 18-year-old from Pflugerville, Texas, has worked on Habitat homes with her church and has participated in missionary opportunities since she entered sixth grade.

“I thought this would be a good experience,” she said, “to meet people and serve people, and to see how different life is in the South.”

Habitat International’s Learn and Build program gives teens ages 16 to 18 the opportunity to experience building a home for a needy family while learning about the area’s culture.

In addition to two weeks of service, students learn about the need for Habitat through educational activities and cultural programs, according to the organization’s website.

Good work ethic

Susan Hughes, development director of Blount County Habitat for Humanity, said this is the first time the chapter has hosted a Learn And Build group. Normally, high school and college groups from the Collegiate Challenge come from all over the country for one-week stints in the county.

“Most of them didn’t have building experience,” Hughes said of this Learn and Build group. “I taught the girls to use a hammer. They have had a good work ethic.”

Hughes also said no one in the group had met before, so they were quiet at first, warming up to one another within a few days.

In the group’s first week, which started Aug. 1, they worked one day in the Habitat ReStore, sorting clothing. The rest of the week they painted rooms, helped put up drywall, built a handicapped ramp and worked on a shed, primarily on the homes belonging to Jennifer Lindsay and Sonya Conley at Morningside Drive.

The students stay at Maryville First United Methodist Church at night, and several churches and local organizations take turns providing meals. In the evenings, the group learns about Habitat, advocacy, poverty and even some construction tips. The students rise at 7 a.m. and are on the work site within an hour.

Barbara Smith, Youth United coordinator, AmeriCorps, and Allyson Drinnon, training specialist for the Volunteer Mobilization Department, Habitat International and Learn an Seedlings Foundation, supervise the group. All the students selected for the program exhibited a desire to give back to the community and were involved in some type of volunteer activities.

“We had a little trouble at first. Most of them had never been on a construction site,” Smith said. “It’s stretching them out of their comfort zone.”

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