I find the letter by Brad Farr on March 18 a personal insult. I am a volunteer for Wood County Habitat for Humanity and have helped build houses for 25 families since 2002. We have a great number of fantastic volunteers, most retired and all safety conscious. We train all new volunteers and watch over them very closely when they first start. I worked for DuPont for 40 years and was an advocate for safety.
The Georgetown University students were some of the best group volunteers I have worked with and none were injured during the week they worked. The photo op taken picture shown in the News was taken during our lunch break and set up by the reporter, not the regular volunteers.
Granted, we are not perfect and do not follow all the rules that a DuPont or a Shell must follow. We are a charity, and a real good one with limited budget. We try to build as many quality houses that we can for people that can not afford the high priced houses of today. We have all the safety equipment available for those that wish to use then, but we, as volunteers, cannot force them to use them. No one is forced to use nail guns or other power equipment without being asked if they are comfortable using them. When they are then our experienced people watch them closely. I normally work two days/week most of the time but worked four days with the students to make sure they were safe.
I thank Farr for reminding us of safe practices in construction. Perhaps he would like to volunteer to help us improve, or donate money to help us buy more safety equipment. Perhaps he should attend a house dedication and see the tears of joy on the faces of the family members when they get the keys to their new homes. That is my motivation.
By the way, the new owners are required to work sweat hours and also pay the cost of the house, they are not free. One of our new owners worked all week with the students and told them he was extremely thankful for their help.
Kevin McCarthy
Parkersburg
