Update:  01/21/2008

Last year, we announced that the Phoenix LGBT community had partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build Phoenix's first-ever Habitat for Humanity "LGBT House" -- only the 2nd such house in the nation (Tucson was first in the nation to build such a home just a couple of years ago).  I personally haven't seen much about this community effort since that original announcement, but I may have missed any updates published in the local LGBT press over the past several months if there were any.  Regardless, I am happy to report today that this project is well underway, and this past weekend, my life partner, Dan, and I volunteered with the Phoenix Human Rights Campaign (HRC) group to continue the work on this house. 

If you've never volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, let me tell you a little about our experience.  We were told to arrive by 7:30am, to bring our lunch, and to dress in layers as the mornings tended to be rather cold right now.  The LGBT house being built is located in Apache Junction, near Ironwood and Broadway.  When we arrived, we found a short street with about 20 homes on it.  Some were completed homes with families already occupying them while about a half-dozen were interspersed among them in various stages of construction.  I don't know that all the homes on this street are Habitat for Humanity homes, but I suspect that they are.  We saw other volunteer crews already working on their assigned homes.  We signed in at a table, signed a waiver basically stating that any injuries we might incur would be our responsibility to take care of (after all, Habitat for Humanity is a bare-bones non-profit).  They pointed out the LGBT house which was already framed with it's roof on, windows installed, and the exterior ready to have stucco applied.  We walked inside the house and found concrete floors and framed walls and ceilings with no sheetrock installed yet.  A Habitat "house leader" called together the group of roughly 15 volunteers, gave a few introductory remarks and told us briefly about the family that would receive this house -- the Black family (that's their last name, not their ethnicity) -- a single mother with five children (see the link to the right to read more about how this family and how they were chosen).  After a few safety tips, we were then informed what our task would be for the day:  to install all the sheetrock.

Well, there really isn't too much to say about installing sheetrock.  You measure, you trim to size (incorrectly a few times in the beginning just to get your feet wet, of course), and then you either screw it to the ceiling rafters or you nail it to the walls.  Dan and I partnered up with a third gentleman to work in the back two bedrooms (of this four bedroom home).  His name was Sean (pronounced "Shawn") and he was certainly a well-mannered and polite fella.  He had previous experience hanging sheetrock (Dan and I didn't), and the three of us got right to work.  There was little conversation as we hung sheet after sheet.  Around lunchtime, after noticing a wedding ring on Sean's finger, I asked if he had any connection to the HRC group who was volunteering for that particular day.  He replied that he wasn't -- that he had just contacted Habitat and asked if he could come volunteer.  They, of course, said "yes" and directed him (for unknown reasons) to the LGBT house.  So, it turns out that of the 15 or so volunteers, suddenly, I didn't know who was with HRC (except for the few wearing HRC clothing) and who wasn't.  Nobody cared who was there.  We all just worked as a harmonious group to get the assigned task done for this family.  We had been told that the mother, who is required to put in her own 400 hours of "sweat equity" working in the home, would probably be there as she was there most weekends.  She had already achieved her 400 hours, and since people were floating from room to room throughout the day, I'm not sure whether she ever arrived or not.  For all I know, we worked right beside her at some point during the day.

At 2:30pm, they told us that we should start reaching an ending point to whatever we were working on, but we all kept working vigorously until they came to pack up the tools at 3:00pm.  We all helped the Habitat folks pack up the tools and sweep up the home before leaving.  Then, it was all over, just as quickly as it had started.  We weren't worn out (well, until several hours later when it all caught up with us), and we left feeling good about what we had done and amazed at how simple it had all turned out to be.

So, if you have some time to give, they still have a need for volunteers.  Simply contact Habitat for Humanity (602.268.9022) and tell them you'd like to volunteer at the LGBT house, and they'll make arrangements with you.  You can show up and work along side whatever community group may be volunteering for the day.  You'll probably learn a little about construction, and you'll feel great knowing you were part of building this home for this family while also being a part of building the second LGBT house in the nation.

The Habitat for Humanity
LGBT House
 

The Valley's first Habitat for Humanity
house sponsored by the
Phoenix LGBT community.