Although Habitat for Humanity’s third build of the summer got off to a rough start after some tools were stolen from the property, the volunteers stuck together and got the walls and roof up on Saturday morning.
The home on Buell Road is well underway as the first building day began early on Saturday, July 28. The friends and family of Shayna Conway are helping out with the build. Conway’s mother, Sheri Wade, is the homeowner. The family had applied for Habitat for Humanity before Shayna was involved in a tragic triple murder-suicide in Alberta this past winter. She was the lone survivor that day and spent weeks in a Calgary hospital recovering from gunshot wounds.
With the sun beaming and the water glistening in the distance, about 50 volunteers worked hard in the heat. The build will take approximately three weeks to complete and then the family will be able to spend their first night in their new, secure home.
Conway’s father, Scott, who lives in Ottawa and works as a contractor traveled to the Island to help build the home in support of his daughter and her recent tragedies. He brought his own trailer and tools down with him, and sometime on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, $3000 dollars worth of hand and power tools were stolen from the lot.
So far, the tools have not been located, but Habitat and the family are not letting the incident drag them down, executive director for Habitat, Susan Zambonin said.
“We don’t expect to find them, it happened to us two years ago too. We’ve had some donations and we are accepting donations, and we have promised Scott that we will replace his tools,” Zambonin said.
Local business people like Mark Rodd of the Rodd hotels and Steve Dunn of the Dunn Group, have volunteered to cover any amount of funds needed to replace the tools.
Zambonin said the team is looking for more volunteers to help out with the build.
“We’re encouraging women to come out and help, but really its just another build for another family that will help build houses for other people. They have been working on their 500 hours just like everybody else,” - Susan Zambonin, executive director of Habitat for Humanity.
“It should take us three weeks if we get at least 15 people each day,” she said.
Service Master will be going to the site tomorrow morning to shingle the roof, and starting on August 6th to the 11th, there will be an all women’s build for the week.
“We’re encouraging women to come out and help, but really its just another build for another family that will help build houses for other people. They have been working on their 500 hours just like everybody else,” said Zambonin.
Brittany Macaulay, a close friend of the family and the build coordinator for the home, said the family hasn’t had the easiest time, even before Shayna’s accident.
“Its awesome they get to do this, were still looking for volunteers over the next three weeks, so spread the word,” she said.
