Rotary Club 585 - Los Banos California

Ned Ryan of Habitat For Humanity Westside gives a presentation to the Los Banos Rotary Club

Story by Charles Guest
The future is looking little bit brighter for a couple of families in Los Banos. Two Saturday's ago, a contingent of dedicated volunteers wielded hammers, sanders, weed-whackers, and chisels as they descended on two Los Banos houses that are being renovated by the Westside chapter of Habitat For Humanity.

Ned Ryan spoke about the Habitat for Humanity project at a Los Banos Rotary Club meeting in late December. Ryan is one of the main coordinators for the Westside Habitat For Humanity chapter.

On their website, Habitat for Humanity describes themselves as a "nonprofit, ecumenical Christian ministry founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live". They go on to say, "We build with people in need regardless of race or religion." The site also notes; "Habitat affiliates work locally in communities around the world to select and support homeowners, organize volunteers and coordinate house building. Homeowners are selected based on their need for housing, their ability to repay a mortgage and their willingness to work in partnership with Habitat." Finally they say, "Habitat is able to make housing affordable to low-income families because houses are sold through a no-profit mortgage. Individuals, corporations, faith groups and others provide vital financial support."

Locally, Ned Ryan is a mover, shaker, and coordinator for the local Habitat for Humanity organization. Mr Ryan spends many hours every month working to make the public aware of the local Habitat efforts, while at the same time coordinating volunteers and contractors, working with city hall, and doing such things as outreach by speaking before local or civic organizations or at city council meetings. Mr. Ryan also works to coordinate the acquisition of labor and building materials.

Construction materials for local Habitat for Humanity projects come from various sources. Certainly a fair amount must be purchased outright, but discounts and donations are of course preferred. Mr. Ryan shared one example of a generous donation from a previous build; "Certainty donated all of the insulation for the walls and the ceilings..." He also noted with a smile that once in a while Certainty will have some roofing material that Habitat Westside is able to get their hands on. Mr Ryan also mentioned that Lowe's and Home Depot (amongst others) regularly give Habitat Westside discounts on materials to be used in the renovation process.

Of course all of the building materials in the world do not assemble themselves, and Ryan notes that labor is similarly obtained via both donation and contracting. He says that currently Habitat Westside is working closely with the City of Los Banos' Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) as well as contractors including Popish & Lowen, Steve Murphy, and Pacifica Sol Malachi Sanchez family. He noted that the contractors on the NSP houses are paid but that most of them are also donating part of their time back to the project. Ryan gives the example of a contractor that was working last Saturday on the Falcon Street home. "...like Steve worked all week - we're paying him time and materials and he is donating his Saturday to us."

Volunteerism is an absolutely essential element to the program. Made famous by the high visibility efforts of former President Jimmy Carter, the volunteer-building aspect of Habitat for Humanity projects has become well known. On Saturday, two Habitat homes in Los Banos were beehives of activity as local volunteers were busy rebuilding kitchens, scraping floors, helping with drywall, pruning shrubs, whacking weeds, and doing all manner of hauling and cleaning - as well as a myriad of other duties. During one short ten minute period at the Falcon Street project one smiling lady was observed working on a doorknob in the living room as another was sanding and grinding on a project in the garage as off-duty police chief Mark Knapp wielded a chisel against some stubborn glue that he was removing from a wooden framework while yet another volunteer was sweeping the floors. All the while, a handful of drywallers were working on sheetrock in the kitchen and a bedroom while a team three or four more people were working to beautify the front yard by cutting down weeds and pruning plants.

Members of the family who will eventually occupy the home usually work closely with the organization as well as the volunteers to construct or refurbish their houses. According to the Habitat for Humanity website, "Habitat is not a giveaway program. In addition to a down payment and monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor (sweat equity) into building their Habitat house and the houses of others."

When complete, a Habitat house is expected to be a sound and comfortable dwelling. Mr. Ryan spoke in particular about the energy efficiency aspect, "We want to bring all the houses up to energy efficient standards. Bring the attic insulation up to R30 and retrofit the windows to dual pane. We test the air conditioning units and ducting to make sure we don't have leakage. For example at the Falcon [Street] house we replaced all of the duct work" Ryan opines, "Things like that would never get done in a rental house." "We try to make it an efficient long-term investment." he said.

According to the Habitat for Humanity website, since its founding in 1976, Habitat for Humanity has built over 300,000 houses, providing shelter for more than 1.5 million people in over 90 countries around the world. A new Habitat house is completed somewhere in the world every 21 minutes. For more general information on Habitat for Humanity you can view their website at http://www.habitat.org.

Currently Habitat Westside is currently dealing with five dwellings that they have purchased. Another two Los Banos houses are in the middle of the purchase process. For local Habitat For Humanity information or to volunteer on local Habitat work day, contact Ned Ryan at 209-826-4706 or email him at [email protected]