PARKERSBURG - Members of an Ohio University service fraternity were in south Parkersburg over the weekend working on a Wood County Habitat For Humanity house on 14th Avenue.
Members of Alpha Phi Omega were at 4302 14th Ave. and at another Habitat home at 4205 14th Ave. on Saturday and Sunday getting both houses framed with getting the trusses and sheeting done on the roof, said Alvin Phillips, executive director for Wood County Habitat for Humanity.
"There were about 45 (members) Saturday and about 25 (Sunday)," Phillips said. "The group had a great time.
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Photo by Brett Dunlap
More than 50 volunteers from the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity from Ohio University worked throughout the weekend at a Habitat For Humanity building project at 4302 14th Ave. in south Parkersburg to get the house framed and get the trusses and sheeting on the roof completed.
"We got a lot accomplished with this much help."
The house at 4302 14th Ave. is right next door to two houses Habitat was able to construct last summer as part of the Parkersburg Bicentennial Habitat Blitz Build. The families were given the keys and had both homes dedicated in September.
The APO service fraternity has required service hours they have to perform regularly and this weekend's event offered them an opportunity to do some of that work, organizers said.
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Members of Ohio University's Alpha Phi Omega worked on two Wood County Habitat for Humanity homes this weekend.
About 45 members worked Saturday, while 25 worked Sunday.
The American Red Cross also used the opportunity to train Mid-Ohio Valley Chapter volunteers, who fed the fraternity workers.
The American Red Cross was able to use the event as a training exercise for Mid-Ohio Valley Chapter disaster mass care volunteers in preparing a large amount of food and distributing it. Lunch was served to the workers both Saturday and Sunday, Phillips said.
"The Red Cross volunteers utilized this non-disaster event in order to be prepared for emergency response," said Sharon Kesselring, financial development director for the local American Red Cross. "Over 50 members of the Ohio University service fraternity were served lunch at the 14th Avenue home building site."
The house being worked on this weekend was the 56th house being built in the area by Wood County Habitat, which marked two milestones in 2010 by celebrating its 20th anniversary and completing its 50th home and beyond.
Habitat's 54th house is being worked on nearby at 4205 14th Ave. by students at the Stanley Technical Institute as part of a job retraining program in carpentry while the 55th house is being built on the campus of the Washington County Career Center near Marietta and will be moved this spring to the corner of Lynn and Tefft streets in Parkersburg.
"It is amazing the amount of energy we are harnessing on these projects with our regular volunteers, special volunteers and specialty schools," Phillips said. "All of these people have really helped us pump up our production locally."
