High School Humanitarian Project Branches Out
Humanitarian
New Hampshire Union Leader
Kendra Gilbert
Boston University Washington News Service
9-15-06
WASHINGTON – The volunteers of “There’s No Place Like Home” believe what their name says. So much so, that this week four members of the group traveled 500 miles to Washington to work on taking the Rochester, N.H.-based organization ever farther – nationwide.
It was just three months earlier that the group’s first project, an 1,100 square-foot house, was loaded onto a truck and driven down to Cut Off, La., where a family of five, left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, waited to once again go home.
In Washington for two days, the four-person group, led by Paula Young, met with Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., and other members of Congress to discuss the growth of their organization, as well as seek out possible sponsors. They also met with other groups, including Habitat for Humanity, with whom they hope to form a partnership.
Bradley, who called the group a “tremendous organization,” has been a strong supporter from the beginning, even commending their commitment on the floor of the House.
“Congressman Bradley really brought it up a step,” Jan Fowler, one of the committee members who traveled to Washington, said. “When we got a little down or worried, he was there.”
This past June, Bradley joined team members in New Hampshire to watch as the first house built by “There’s No Place Like Home” was hauled off to Louisiana by the New Hampshire National Guard.
“These are really good New Hampshire people that saw a problem and found a solution,” Bradley said.
After Katrina, Pastor Bernie Quinn urged his congregation at the Grace Community Church in Rochester to come up with ways to help those in need along the Gulf Coast, Young said. Along with other church members, Young decided to collaborate with students in the Building Trades Program at Somersworth High School to build a house for a family left homeless by the storm. And so began “There’s No Place Like Home.”
With the help of donations from local companies and donors, the group was able to raise the roughly $40,000 needed to build a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, ranch style home for a family in Louisiana, who lacked the resources to rebuild on their own.
The group hopes the replicate its success nationwide, Young said.
“We wanted to help one family, and now we have figured out that we can master this and it can go from coast to coast,” Young said. “There’s no reason it can’t.”
They have already started work on a four-bedroom house for a second family whose home was damaged by Katrina and then completely destroyed soon after by Hurricane Rita.
But it isn’t just the recipients of the homes being built by “There’s No Place Like Home” that are benefiting.
“What better way to teach our kids, raise leaders for tomorrow, and tackle a problem that nobody else seems to be able to tackle?” Young said.
Of the more than 1,800 volunteers who donated time, money, and supplies to build the first house, 60 of them were high school students. Young said that number is growing.
And with nearly 20,000 trade schools nationwide, she said the potential for “There’s No Place Like Home” to grow is great.
“They can really make a difference,” Young said, “one nail at a time.”
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