The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Left to right: Ran Zhu, Tony Powell, Nicki Post, Sarah Dodson and Maren Gauldin, students from the University of Colorado, work on Habitat house. photo by Tom Chace

Two groups of college students spent most of their spring break working in Sisters as volunteers on several Habitat for Humanity houses.

The first crew of 10 came from the University of Idaho, in Moscow, and spent their 10-day "vacation" doing foundation work at two of the houses on Cowboy Street.

Many helped repaint the Habitat Thrift Store on Main Avenue and others knocked down trees on the Relco property west of town, off Highway 20, in preparation to moving a donated building off the property for future remodeling into a new home.

The second group came here from Boulder, Colorado, home of the University of Colorado, working on houses on St. Helens Avenue at the south end of Larch Street.

"It has been an incredible experience and we are overwhelmed with the openness of the people in Sisters towards us," said Tony Powell, one of the Colorado group of seven.

"Instead of you thanking us, we want to thank all of you for your hospitality," said the student of civil and environmental engineering from Eagle, Colorado.

Maren Gauldin, a junior majoring in sociology, was the student leader.

"We applied for this job," she said, "and were chosen after interviews and written reports just like applying for a real job."

The seven drove here from Boulder in two cars in two days. They spent the first night in Ogden, Utah, and the second night in Bend.

They slept here at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, in sleeping bags but not on cots.

"We pull a couple of chairs together and make a bed with them," said Sarah Dodson, a junior English major who lives in Boulder. "Works really great until the chairs begin to slip apart."

For two consecutive Sunday nights each group was hosted to a "scrumptious" dinner at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration.

Dave and Eloise Barry handled the arrangements for the church and Marie Clasen, Habitat executive, put the whole thing together on behalf of the local chapter.

Between 70 and 80 attended each of the two banquets.

"What are all these people doing here?" asked Jessica Hirsch, from Longmont, Colorado, a bio-chemistry major at CU.

"They're here to thank you and to honor you for coming to help us," answered Lou Ann Gibbs, herself a Habitat volunteer and guest with her husband, Bruce, at the dinner.

"This is incredible," Hirsch said. "We're the ones who should be thanking you for what you all are doing and giving to us."

Powell, the lone male among six females, was asked how he handled being the lone man in the group with six women. Before he could answer, Nicki Post, a senior studying Spanish Literature, broke in, "It's the other way around. We're the ones who handle him."

Ran Zhu from Fort Collins, Colorado said that the camaraderie and being able to work outdoors "in this beautiful place with such nice bosses" is a memory she will take back to school with her.

"It's also an inexpensive way to see another part of our country," she said.

Among her "bosses" (actually, volunteers who oversee and help with the physical labor on the construction of each Habitat house) were Larry Lennon and Mike Herold.

"This is the 15th house I've worked on," said Lennon.

Herold attests to eight. Both men are on the building committee for the local Habitat chapter.

The seventh member of this crew with the University of Colorado team of volunteers was Julie Silva, a psychology major from Lafayette, Colorado.

"Incredible! That's the only word to describe our experiences here," she said.

The group from CU was looking forward to heading to Black Butte Ranch after their day's work was done, to swim, shower and enjoy a barbecue dinner and an evening in a private home there.

"This is hot and dirty work," said Gauldin, "and we're all looking forward to that hot shower and a good swim."