As your getting up at 5:45 to catch the 6 AM van, you seem to think about the majority of people who are enjoying the pleasure of sleeping in on a lazy spring Saturday. The dead still of the morning is filled with birds chirping in true early morning fashion, which guides you in case you start to doze off on your way to the physical plant. So you make it and there you meet with the brave members of Castleton’s Community Service Club. The few, the proud and the brave.

The only music in the van is the occasional snore from a member who stayed up last night as their head rolls back on the seat. A smile, mornings aren’t for everyone.

The ride to Burlington is long and you start to think of your friends, who are sleeping through it all with the scrumptious Huden breakfast awaiting. Then you arrive and there is your palace. You start thinking, “Did I really sign up for this?”

A condemned house and a white t-shirt – this is not a good combination.

With a crowbar in one hand and a hammer in the other, we start the demolition. Bill, the site manager, is the one showing you how to remove the tub from a house that was build at the turn of the century.

You find square nails from the eighteen hundreds and wires that were installed when electricity was invented. During your break you hear more about habitat for humanity and what they do. You think about the family that will receive the house, the 0 interest mortgage they will have and your sleep deprivation is subsided.

Not only is it fun to tear down the ceiling and watch dirt rain down on you and your fellow members, but the good shines through as you realize the new life that the future family will have. Rip the carpet, put a hole in the wall, and throw away the trash in the dumpster.

You start to be merry as you get to know other members and all comment on your new perfume of old dry wall. The brown shirt you wear is the honor you have for doing your good deed for the day. As you all clean up you feel a new reward knowing someone will build on the years you have taken off and thrown away.

This was Castleton’s first habitat for humanity trip. If you would like to get involved in more trips like this please join the Community Service Club. Contact Jan Rousse for more information.