PORT ANGELES — A home under construction by Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County is getting a boost from a group of visitors who spend months each year skipping from project to project while traveling the U.S.
Seven members of the U.S. Habitat for Humanity’s Care-A-Vanners program are spending two weeks in Port Angeles at the construction site at Maloney Court in west Port Angeles.
They began by putting up the first wall and expect to leave Friday with the roof support structure either complete or nearly so.
“What they do in two weeks normally takes my volunteers four or five weeks to do,” said Harry Gravatte, construction manager for Habitat for Humanity.
Typically, Habitat volunteers work two or three days a week, but the Care-A-Vanners work five days a week for two weeks when they visit a building site.
Gravatte said the group of seven will contribute 490 hours to the project during their two-week stay.
The Care-A-Vanner volunteers are camping at a local campground while taking part in Habitat’s current effort to construct the house for Taya Dancel and her children.
Linda and John Coldiron of Prescott, Ariz., spend two or three months on the road each year and volunteer at about one build per month.
“This is our seventh season and the first build of this year,” Linda Coldiron said.
Each of them retired from their jobs in Arizona and plan their summer trips according to the Habitat for Humanity schedule.
The national Habitat for Humanity organization lists build sites across the U.S. and Canada on a registration website from which more than 1,500 registered Care-A-Vanner volunteers can choose.
They may register for a project, such as the two-week build in Port Angeles, or they can “drop in” at any site to assist local sites for a day or longer.
Ron and Jean Gratz, who have lived full time on the road for the past 10 years, average 12 major builds per year, with an additional 12 drop-in volunteer projects each year.
“We’re all independent,” Jean Gratz said, noting that while they may meet up with other volunteers on projects more than once, each maps their own route.
Volunteering for the Care-A-Vanners project allows them to travel full time while still being able to contribute through volunteerism, Gratz said.
“It’s the same as volunteering at the library or at schools,” she said.
Peter Walde of San Jose, Calif., owns a home in Victoria and travels regularly between his two homes in his RV, stopping at Habitat sites to volunteer in the Pacific Northwest regularly.
Walde, a retired Pacific Bell right-of-way administrator, said the Dancel home is his 19th build, having started in 2001, including seven in Port Townsend.
“I get a lot more out of it than I put into it,” he said.
Kim and Scott Maltman of Sandy, Ore., were also members of the group of travelers at the build site.
About half of Wednesday’s build crew were Care-A-Vanner members, and half were local volunteers, Gravatte said.
Another group of Care-A-Vanners is scheduled to visit Clallam County for two weeks in June and July to work on a home in Forks for the Gooding family.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
