The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Sisters Habitat for Humanity has hired a new construction manager.

Darleene Snider, who grew up on a farm where she learned to "fix things," spent 22 years in the U.S. Air Force, traveling to all but one continent (Antarctica). She deployed with troops as essential ground support for flying missions. The mission could follow an explosion, an invasion, a tsunami, wherever air support was needed. Her contingency response team planned, organized, and built all the facilities needed for the mission - from buildings to runways - then dismantled them after mission-accomplished.

"We were first in, last out," she said.

When she decided to retire several years ago, she and her partner took vacations driving around several western states each trip, stopping in towns, meeting some people and taking in the atmosphere. Something magical happened when they stopped in Sisters - it felt like home. They also considered another compelling Oregon town, put in bids on two properties and went with the one that came to them first.

Snider is considering turning their acreage in the Camp Polk area into a tree farm, among other ideas. She enjoys being outdoors, building things and likes working for nonprofits. She's been out pulling up old fence-posts and barbed wire with the Oregon Natural Desert Association and hopes to do some hiking and kayaking during the summer. She has it on her bucket list to take a cruise to that last continent - Antarctica.

As a Team Leader for Habitat's Women Build for the past two years and as a general volunteer, Snider has worked on three builds and two landscaping jobs. She's familiar with the Habitat program and had the support of her fellow volunteers in applying for the construction manager position.

She says, "I'm tickled pink to have this job doing what I love to do and working with these really great people."

When Snider first started volunteering, she was the only female worker; now there are two more, including Lynn Jones, who is the safety representative, and Ellie Hammond, who never built a house before she became a volunteer. Now Snider is the only paid worker leading six to 12 volunteers, which occasionally includes Care-A-Vaners, who travel around the country in their RVs and stop at Habitat build sites to volunteer their construction expertise. She currently has Care-A-Vaners Dan and Susie helping out at the Swain and Maxwell house builds on East Cascade Avenue.

Habitat always needs more volunteers, especially during the summer, whether it's doing home construction or repairs, or helping out for a few hours a week or month at the Thrift Store or ReStore. Orientations are held twice a month on the first and third Wednesdays. Contact Volunteer and Family Services Manager Marie Clasen at [email protected]