I moved to Jefferson County because of a map, a photo, and a job. The map showed the county encompassing a big mass of green with no roads but lots of trails — Olympic National Park. The photo was Mount Baker presiding over the Port Townsend waterfront at sunset. And the job — well, the job was an AmeriCorps term with Habitat for Humanity.
Living in a beautiful place, hiking in my spare time, and building houses for the community — those were my expectations when I moved. Four months in, I can confirm that they all panned out. But because it’s an unusual time and the Olympic Peninsula is an unusual place, there’s been much more I didn’t expect.
The first surprise came before I even left my home state of New Jersey: Jefferson County has a housing shortage. Affordable rental listings are few and far between, while Facebook is swimming with young people and families searching for homes in the area. Through dogged persistence (and good luck) I found somewhere great to live. But the process underlined the urgency of my work with Habitat in this area. Like me, many people want to be our neighbors in Jefferson County. We need to build safe, affordable housing to support them.
I soon discovered that building in 2020 wouldn’t be like my experiences with Habitat in the past. I thought I’d be juggling a new set of names each day as Group Builds, Care-a-Vanners, and one-time volunteers came to our site. But because of COVID-19 safeguards, it’s been a small group of partner families, job training placements, and regular volunteers who join us every week. While I wish I could be meeting more of Habitat EJC’s community, I’ve loved getting to know the skills and stories of our small-but-mighty crew.
There have been lots of little learnings, too. I’ve learned it’s more comfortable to drive a gravel road fast than slow. The dump won’t accept latex paint without wood chips in it. You can hit harder with a lighter hammer. And shorter days mean you can wake up late and still watch the sunrise.
But the biggest thing I didn’t know was what Habitat’s work really means, and what it really means to work for Habitat. AmeriCorps members at other organizations might tutor dozens of children throughout the year, restore hundreds of acres of habitat, or give thousands of people food at the food bank. I’ll be happy if I can complete four houses during my term with Habitat. Habitat makes big, fundamental changes in the lives of each partner family; such deep love takes unmatched investments of time and resources. Working for Habitat is doing hard, long-term work to transform every aspect of someone’s life through housing.
One day, I might put seven pieces of wood on the exterior of a house. On the next, maybe it’s applying 11 tubes of caulk on the inside. Then it’s just picking up nails and sweeping the floor. Eventually, it’ll get a family in a safe, decent, affordable home. That’s what I really didn’t know before coming to Jefferson County and Habitat: transformation requires a million small steps. This year, both on the job site and in my own life, I hope to take every one of those steps.