Helping turn wood and nails into a home for a family is a rewarding experience according to volunteers with Escambia Habitat for Humanity. Area residents still have an opportunity to get in on work being done on the first home built in the Atmore area.

Work will continue on the house Saturday.

Jennifer Dorriety and her daughter, Kaylee, are realizing a dream as the second weekend of work was held at the Johnson Road address in the Nokomis community.

Alecia Glaize, executive director for EHFH, said the build has gone well and is on schedule according to construction plans.

“Everything is right on schedule because we’ve had some really good work days,” Glaize said. “The heat might have discouraged some people from coming and we had a few that didn’t stay all day because of the heat. But, we’ve had a really good turn out and have made good progress on the home.”

The home, which is the first construction built off the ground, has been framed with roof and siding work nearly complete, Glaize said.

“The main task for the weekend was to get the metal roofing on and finish the siding on the home,” Glaize said. “We still need some skilled volunteers to help with those projects. Since this home is being built off the ground, it is somewhat higher than what we’ve worked on in the past. We need people who are comfortable working up high.”

One other project for the weekend’s work was to install deadwood inside the home in preparation for sheetrock installation.

“We will be preparing the inside walls for sheetrock work,” Glaize said. “We do contract out the sheetrock work so we needed to have that ready when those contractors come to the site next week.”

Glaize said there will be a few more weekends that will allow volunteers to help out.

“We will be working next weekend as well,” Glaize said. “We have volunteer workdays planned for June 5 and for June 12. Both days we will be working from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.”

Glaize did say some work is being done during the week by contractors with little available for volunteer assistance.

“Rusty Miller is our construction coordinator and he has a regular job through the week,” Glaize said. “We do have contractors, like with sheetrock and air conditioning, that work at the site through the week. Our main days for volunteer assistance will be our weekend workdays.”

Although volunteers are needed primarily on the next several Saturdays, Glaize said some projects may require some assistance at other times.

“We certainly welcome all volunteers whenever we can get them,” Glaize said.

“There will be some minor projects that could use the assistance of volunteers at other times than the weekend. If someone would like to volunteer on a weekday, we ask them to call our office to work out a schedule before dropping by the building site.”

Glaize said the goal of the group is to complete the house during the month of June.

“We hope to finish the house by the end of June,” Glaize said. “If we need additional workdays after June 12, we will schedule them. We want to get this family in their home as soon as possible.”

For those interested in volunteering at the Dorriety home or who are interested in learning more about the organization, contact the Brewton offices of Escambia Habitat for Humanity at 867-0095 or by visit the organization’s Web site at www.escambiahfh.org.