NORMAL Ill. (WMBD) — Volunteers started construction on a house in the Carle Bromenn Medical Center parking lot on Saturday afternoon.
Habitat for Humanity united with the Carle Bromenn Medical Center staff to build the walls for the 2023 healthcare house.
The nonprofit helps people build or improve a place they can call home. Volunteers dedicate every Saturday morning to the project until the three-bedroom home is complete.
Once finished, the house will sit on West Olive Street in Bloomington, where it’ll be ready for its new family.
“On our first floor, we actually have 20 walls, interior and exterior. And then 25 on the second floor and basically we put them all together on Saturdays,” said Habitat for Humanities executive director Rodger Scott.
Habitat for Humanity board president Trayce Bartley said none of what they do would be possible without the volunteers.
“Over the next six months, we’ll have volunteers on the job site on Olive Street on Saturday mornings to help build this house. It takes a village, it really does,” said Bartley.
Michelle Rush works for the medical center and has been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity for five years. She said she knows she’s making a difference in someone’s life and regardless of the hard physical labor she always comes to volunteer with a positive attitude.
“The exercise, it’s not only mental health but physical health and having a home that someone can move into that you had a piece of. So it comes from the heart. I love to volunteer for Habitat because when someone is in need and you have the physical ability to help, why not? We’ll help someone in need and have fun at the same time,” said Rush.
The house is expected to be finished in November, and then volunteers will go on to the next project.
