Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity recognizes "Core" construction volunteers

Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity (AAHH) recently recognized its “core” Construction Services volunteers with a breakfast event at Warren Wilson College. Core volunteers are those who help Habitat build and repair homes on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. In 2013, 95 core construction volunteers collectively contributed more than 15,000 hours of service to Asheville Area Habitat. And to put that in perspective, of all the volunteer hours contributed on Habitat construction sites last year (1,700 people/ 30,000 hours), 50% of those hours were completed by just 95 individuals  - the “core” volunteers!

Among this core group, there were 10 who individually contributed more than 280 hours and one who topped the scale at more than 700 hours! Habitat congratulated and thanked:

 “Top Ten Hours” volunteers

1.      Dick Allen	705
2.      CJ Obara	556
3.      Jerry Ray	446
4.      Ken Clark	443
5.      Bob Laveck	414
6.      Bob Swartz	341
7.      Ross Akin	317
8.      Kevin Cox	312
9.      Tom Houser	285
10.    Paul Finegan	281

Habitat also recognized those who hit significant longevity milestones. The honorees were:

10 Year Award - Ken Clark, Mike Lang, Len Lorensen and John Steigerwald

20 Year Award - Paul Finegan

“In his 20 years of service, Paul has logged more than 6,500 hours of volunteer service with our affiliate!  He has pounded more nails and installed more siding than we can count, and probably eaten more than 1,000 donuts on the jobsite since 1993! But the most important measurement of all is human lives. In the past 20 years, Paul has helped build more than 230 homes for 230 Buncombe County families. Those families’ lives have been forever changed thanks to Paul and all of our volunteers,” noted Lew Kraus, Executive Director.

In addition to Construction volunteers, Habitat utilizes volunteers in the ReStore and administrative office. These volunteers are recognized in separate appreciate events. Collectively and across the entire organization, more than 2,100 volunteers contribute more than 60,000 hours to AAHH last year!