Local businesses have donated money, supplies and services to Habitat for Humanity in preparation for this week. Now they’re giving up their staffs too. Some bigger businesses will barely feel the burden of a lighter staff. Others are careful to send as many as they can manage comfortably without. And a few, like Quality Pest Control and M&H Valve, are prioritizing the Jimmy Carter Work Project over maintaining business as usual.
Quality Pest Control is centering its whole week around Habitat and volunteering its entire staff. Office administrator Angie Whitehead said schedules have been switched so employees can volunteer as much as possible and still run a skeleton crew at the office.
She said the company kept appointments for the week light so it would only take one crew to handle the work. Some employees even will work during the day and volunteer at night.
Whitehead is not worried about the light workload costing the company any business.
"What we’re doing is going to have a greater impact on our business anyway if people see we are active in the community," she said. "It will be worth the risk we have to take."
M&H Valve is shutting down its plant this week to allow as many employees to volunteer as want to.
General Manager Thomas Walton said the plant has a shutdown every year to do projects and maintenance upgrades, so this year the company scheduled it to coincide with the Habitat project.
Walton called the Jimmy Carter Work Project a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"How often do you have something of this magnitude to participate in, in your community?" he said.
M&H Valve and Union Foundry, both owned by McWane Inc., have contributed $300,000 to sponsor six homes in Wellborn Heights.
M&H also let Habitat use a 50,000-square-foot warehouse it owns off Greenbrier Road as a staging area for supplies and pre-construction.
While Quality Pest Control and M&H Valve may be the only businesses treating Habitat like a major holiday, the manpower and money other local businesses are putting into the project are by no means minor. Each of the 36 houses being built this week cost $50,000 to sponsor.
"The generosity of the community has just been overwhelming," said Habitat for Humanity of Calhoun County Director of Development Nan Williams, who was hesitant to name businesses contributing to the effort because there are so many and she didn’t want any forgotten.
Solutia has donated $500,000 to the Project in the form of three houses in Wellborn Heights and one house, one duplex and 25 house repairs in western Anniston. About 30 local Solutia employees and close to 200 nationwide will work on those houses.
Anniston plant manager David Cain said some of the employees at his plant will be volunteering all week and some will work a day or more. The plant has adjusted schedules to compensate for the reduced staff. Cain said many are using vacation time to volunteer.
Cain, who plans to work in western Anniston every day next week, said his plant wants to be part of the projects that move the community forward.
"It’s a very simple thing, if you have better homes, better housing conditions, it’s easy to attract new commercial growth," Cain said. "It’s one seed that has the potential to grow in many different ways. I think it’s going to instill a huge amount of pride in this community."
Honda’s manufacturing plant in Lincoln is sponsoring a house and has donated 11 company vans to be used for transporting people, food and other supplies during the project. About 50 Honda employees have volunteered to work on their own time, either by taking paid time off, vacation days or volunteering at night if they work a day shift or in the morning if they work a night shift.
Spokesperson Mark Morrison said several managers from the Honda plant are volunteering, also on their own time.
He said it’s important for the company to be involved in the community where its employees live and work.
Alabama Power Co. is sponsoring one house and sending 105 people to work. The volunteers are a combination of employees, spouses and children of employees and retirees.
Spokesperson Buddy Eiland said Alabama Power still will have enough people to manage its workload. If an unusual situation were to arise, he and other employees would be accessible enough to respond.
Eiland said a group from Alabama Power built the second Habitat house in Anniston and has continued to support the program because it has had such a positive effect.
"The community has shown its support for this program," he said. "From that standpoint it helps to showcase some really good things about Calhoun County and the people who live here. We’ve had a lot of negative reflected on our area, and I think this is something that moves in the other direction. Certainly, we want to be a part of that."
United Defense is sponsoring a house and will have eight to 10 employees volunteering each day.
Operations manager at the vehicle-upgrade facility Charlie Redmon said employees are taking vacation days to participate, and he won’t have any more people missing from work than is typical for vacations this time of year.
Redmon said he feels United Defense and other local businesses have a responsibility to the community, and this is one way they can help.
"I’m hoping there will be more corporate sponsors in future years. Once they can see it, they’ll think about doing it in the future even when President Carter’s not involved. Anniston’s a small enough community that our employees know some of these homeowners, and still a small enough town that we can take care of each other. If everyone’s involved, it’s not a burden on any one industry or business. The churches have certainly gotten involved. Local business should too."
Huron Valley Steel is sponsoring a house, and six employees are volunteering. Vice President Dick Anderson said he is postponing some operations and covering others with relief people.
It’s worth an inconvenience, he said, because he wants to make Anniston a better place to live.
At local Colonial Bank branches, employees took it upon themselves to raise money for Habitat. They raised $9,000 for three charities, including Habitat, through car washes, bake sales and yard sales this year. An Oxford branch employee, Rinique Simmons, is a house recipient, and about 30 other employees are volunteering to work.
Oxford branch manager Melissa Craven said to keep her bank running smoothly she will have two people volunteer each day.
"This is just a very small way we can give something back," she said. "Sometimes it takes something like this or someone like Jimmy Carter to show us humanity is important and we need to take care of each other."
