BUILDING A HOME

Cheryl McAllister wielded a loaded paint roller almost gleefully in a spare bedroom at 45 Green Acres Saturday afternoon.

"I like putting the paint on the walls," said McAllister, one of about a dozen volunteers from the Church of Christ in Cape Girardeau who turned out to help Habitat for Humanity build a new home for Vanasian Green and her children.

McAllister, a first-time volunteer for Habitat, teaches math and coordinates student advisement at the College of Science and Technology at Southeast Missouri State University.

She said she has some experience putting the finishing details on new homes, "just from helping people in my family."

For McAllister, working for Habitat is a way to give back to the community.

"Part of our Christian belief is to help people, and this is something I can do that helps somebody out ultimately," she said.

Work on the home at 45 Green Acres began last September, said Bill Cheeseman, president of the local Habitat group.

"This has been one of our winter houses that we've able to work on in the months when we can't be outside," Cheeseman said.

Volunteers hope to have the house finished by the end of this summer.

Most of Saturday's volunteers worked indoors, finishing up joint compound work and painting and texturing walls.

Habitat for Humanity is also building two new houses in the same stretch of Green Acres, one at 50 Green Acres and the second, an Oprah Angel Network home, at 54 Green Acres.

Rainy weather Saturday slowed work on the two new houses, where the foundations have yet to be poured.

On July 11, volunteers from LaCroix United Methodist Church and First Baptist Church, both in Cape Girardeau, will start a building blitz on the two new homes, working for 15 days straight to get the foundations, walls and roofs of the two new homes up, Cheeseman said.

Kevin Knight, the campus and youth minister at the Church of Christ, turned out to work for the second time with Habitat Saturday, working on the foundations of the two new homes.

Knight also helped recruit the other volunteers from the church.

"I've done whatever's needed to be done," Knight said. "Today I was playing in the mud and taking support boards off the foundation. It's a good excuse to play in the mud and get dirty and not get in trouble with my wife."

Habitat for Humanity has built five homes in Cape Girardeau in the last five years. The local affiliate was established in 1986.

The volunteer program was founded in 1976 to eliminate substandard housing worldwide. Homeowners are accepted by referral and must make a small down payment and provide 350 hours "sweat equity" toward their home.

The average cost of most Habitat homes is about $38,000, which includes volunteer labor, materials, supplies and the land, said the Rev. Dewey Shaffer, project coordinator for the local Habitat affiliate.

Shaffer said he likes watching the homes grow from the foundation up and seeing the volunteers develop their skills.

"I enjoy watching the volunteers come in, because many of them have no experience," he said. "By the end of the day, they've accomplished something, and I've been a part of that."

Habitat volunteers don't have to have construction experience, and volunteers are always needed. For more information, call 334-4344 weekdays between 8 a.m. and noon.