Stacy Banks sustained her first on-the-job injury Wednesday. She was nailing trim into soffits when it happened.“Oh well,” was her reaction.
“I’m glad it was Wednesday instead of Monday,” she said, looking over the small purple bruise on her left forefinger. “I was surprised it hadn’t happened before today.”
No matter, the work crew at the West Anniston site finished the roof and shingles Wednesday and installed the last of the vinyl siding and soffits.
They were waiting for the dry wall crews to come back and finish taping and mudding the Sheet Rock of the home’s interior walls. They made it through the heat and the rain, and they may complete the house on time as well.
Banks has called husband Aaron, a 7th grade science teacher at Merimec Valley Middle School in suburban St. Louis, each night to update him on her activities and the home’s progress.
“I tell him everything I do,” Banks said, putting away one of the many ladders scattered around the house. “He’s at home by himself, so he’s anxious to talk to anybody.”
Banks said one of the most touching moments of her Wednesday came during the morning devotional. It was the first she attended this week, because the buses haven’t been able to get her group to Wellborn Manor on time.
While at the devotional, she heard one of the Habitat homeowners read from Corinthians 13:1-4. The passage is about love, and the homeowner told all the volunteers how much she loved them for helping her.
“It was very touching,” Banks said.
Banks also is getting used to riding a school bus again. The preferred mode of transportation for Habitat volunteers has been school buses, which rumble and grumble back and forth between Anniston and Jacksonville all day.
She described the ride as bumpy and hot.
The going has been a little slower at this West Anniston house, mainly because materials have to be hauled in from Wellborn Manor and the workers need to cut out a little early to go and eat.
But at the same time, Banks is getting a look at the neighborhood being built off Front Street.
“It’s impressive to see all those people,” Banks said. “They’ve got 35 houses with 35 or 40 people on each house, and it’s a sea of houses.”
