On Saturday Oct. 2 from 8 am till 5 pm I took a group of volunteer members and staff to Boynton Beach with tools in hand—a hammer, carpentry pencil, tape measure, toolbelt with nail pouch and a utility knife. Through Habitat For Humanity of Palm Beach County, we spent the day helping build a home for a needy family.

Habitat for Humanity works in partnership with people in need to build and renovate decent, affordable housing. The houses then are sold to those in need at no profit and with no interest charged.

Volunteers provide most of the labor, and individual and corporate donors provide money and materials to build Habitat houses.

Partner families themselves invest hundreds of hours of labor - "sweat equity" - into building their homes and the home of others. Their mortgage payments go into a revolving Fund for Humanity that is used to build more houses.

MBS is committed to working with many worthwhile causes in our community throughout the year. Following four catastrophic hurricanes, Charlie, Frances, Ivan and Jean, in September where many people lost their homes and even their lives, this charity had even more significance.

Our group of volunteers was ready and eager to help. “I went to Home Depot to get a carpentry pencil,” said Kim Scholtes. “I even bought a sharpener for it.”

I couldn’t be prouder of our members and staff, as we put aside focusing on our own lives that day and worked to help others in need. They included Gary, Nancy and Trevor Clement, Sue Hanley, Howard Greenberg, Kelly

Bruce, Scott Downes, and Kim Scholtes. What better workforce than a group of fit and caring individuals from MBS could you ask for?

The work was not easy. Fortunately for us we were all fit. When we first got there the first thing we did was lift heavy bags of shingles on to the roof of the house! From that point on it got harder. A few members and I worked on the roof nailing shingles for hours on end in the hot, humid sun. Some of the girls literally carried wheelbarrows of debris to the dumpster. Many manicured nails bit the dust that day.

A special thanks to cycling instructor Marty Aronson for bringing lunch to a bunch of tired and starved workers.