This past Friday, the Construction Committee hosted their annual NW Metro Atlanta Holiday/End of the Year party, at St. Joseph Marist Hall. The meal was catered by the Knights of Columbus.
Chrys Street, the founder of our affiliate, attended. 31 years ago, she met Millard Fuller, found of Habitat for Humanity International. She was inspired by his conviction that everyone deserves a simple, decent place and that God’s people needed to put faith into action to make that happen. She organized what would first become the Cobb County Habitat for Humanity, and later be called the NW Metro Atlanta Habitat for Humanity.
Tom Hall put together a terrific presentation on some of our affiliate’s construction crew from the early years. Among those mentioned were four people whose names are associated with the committee’s annual awards: Roy Brumley, Joe and Connie Loviska, and Bob Webber.
Roy Brumley was a very knowledgeable quality control person on many builds. He was constantly bringing in new ideas to improve safety and efficiency. Roy was one of the original Grey Ghosts and coordinated the work of the Ghosts from 2003 until his death. He created numerous jigs to expedite layout, framing, vinyl and aluminum fascia work. He was a crew leader on the Easter Morning Blitz in Americus in 1999.Whenever someone needed a tool or part on the build site, Roy always seemed to have it in the back of his truck.
Joe and Connie Loviska were both professional builders and general contractors. They also were Habitat House Leaders. Joe led a “Carter Blitz” house for Habitat International in Houston in 1998. Connie worked on this build as a crew leader.
Bob Webber was an original Gray Ghost who worked on many houses, but never wanted to be a House Leader. He was known as Habitat’s Energizer Bunny. Mike Christian recounted that when Mike first volunteered to work on a project with Bob, the “old guy” worked him into the ground. Bob created many jigs and tools to simplify the construction process. He particularly enjoyed working on the roofs. One day, he fell off the roof, but turned around and got right back on. Brett Miller had hats made that said, ““Bob’s Roofing. One Fall, That’s All.”
The committee presented several annual awards. The Roy Brumley Golden Hammer award is given to a House leader or individual who has made a significant commitment of time and energy to improve the construction process. This year the award went to Clayton Dampier and to David Mackay. They both demonstrate a willingness and readiness to take in any task needed regardless of how pleasant or unpleasant (insulation and paint) it may seem and they do do with great enthusiasm, joy and good nature. They are just a pleasure to be around and typify the Habitat spirit in all they do.
Joe and Connie Loviska Cat’s Paw goes to a crew leader who has worked on at least a couple of houses and has made a notable commitment to the improvement of the affiliate’s build activity. This year the award went to Bill Garrett and to Suzanne Richardson.
Bob Webber Memorial Award goes to an individual that has made singularly distinctive or innovative contributions for the betterment of the overall construction efforts. When this award was established it was determined, that the award would not be automatically be given annually, but as justified by performance. This year, the award went to Mike O’Brien.
In addition, this year the committee awarded a Life Time Achievement Award to Jim Miller. The award included a special Golden Hammer lapel pin. Jim started working with Cobb Habitat in 1990, in the days when you had to bring your own tools and ladders to the build site. We will have a blog post about him up soon.
The construction people work tirelessly all year. They give their knowledge, time, and energy because they want to do something for their community. Most of their work goes unseen, but they are not unappreciated. Thank you.