Cincinnati volunteer deconstructs why she works with Habitat

Stacey Creamer wears many hats as a volunteer with Greater Cincinnati Habitat. She can operate a forklift, use just about any power tool on a construction site, do carpentry and landscaping, and help out at the local ReStore. Stacey shares what first hooked her on volunteering with Habitat and what brings her back.

I have been volunteering most of my life. I was brought up in a home where helping others in one form or another was always a part of things.

I had volunteered with Matthew 25: Ministries in Ohio since it began in 1990 and was looking for another opportunity when I found Greater Cincinnati Habitat. I wasn’t confident that I had the skills to help, even though I grew up with tools. My father was a carpenter and had a very well-stocked wood shop where we would work together making shelves, mailboxes and furniture.

But I saw a volunteer opportunity for a deconstruction project — I didn’t know what that meant, so I emailed the volunteer coordinator — and soon found myself on site.

The job was to deconstruct a pool house. It was February, and we were freezing, but I didn’t care. Four of us dismantled a full kitchen, appliances and cabinets, toilets, and large doors. I took down all the wrought-iron curtain rods and shelving and removed cabinets, shower doors, wrought-iron hinges and hardware. I was hooked.

It felt so good that because I came to help, these things were not going to the landfill; profits from their resale were going to help fund someone’s new home! I gained the confidence that day that I could do this, and I wanted to do more.

From that point on, I worked on every deconstruction project in 2014, missing only one. I honestly feel the best way to learn how to put something together is to take it apart.

I recently volunteered on my first construction site at a rehab home for Habitat. I introduced homeowner Mesha Long to my new Christmas present, an impact driver. She had never used even a regular drill before, but by the end of the day, Mesha was beaming from ear to ear, holding my impact driver high over her head, saying “Girl power!” It still brings a smile to my face just thinking about how empowered she obviously was after that first day.

I can’t describe how good it feels to go home at the end of the day, tired, aching, dirty, but knowing you have helped change someone’s life forever. For me, this is a feeling that a paycheck can’t bring.

This is why I volunteer — so that others can have a home and I can be part of giving a family a hand up and helping them break the chain of poverty.