Local volunteers work with Jimmy Carter in Thailand
November 15, 2009
By Christopher Huber
New, Nov. 15, 4:25 p.m.
Custom-home builder Dwight Martin has spent his career building fancy houses on the Eastside. The Sammamish resident has also used his construction skills to help build affordable housing with Habitat for Humanity in Bellevue, he said.
Since the 1990s, Martin has traveled with the organization to assist in Louisiana, Ghana and India. Now he’s headed to Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Along with 19 Sammamish, Issaquah, Redmond and Bellevue residents, Martin is working in the 26th annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project Nov. 15-20 in Southeast Asia. The work project is the Carters’ partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
“Everybody everywhere, one of the basic needs is housing,” Martin said. “Working with Habitat for Humanity you get out into the country and really … meet them where they live.”
The local team includes John Balciunas and Doug Copley, both of Sammamish.
Although the Sammamish residents will only be in Thailand, volunteers for the event will build with an estimated 175 families in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and China’s Sichuan Province, according to Habitat for Humanity. The Carters will join the approximately 3,000 volunteers and various celebrities in Chiang Mai.
“Its like a vacation with a purpose,” said Mary Martin, Sammamish resident and Habitat for Humanity East King County’s resource development director. “You travel to a unique place, yet do something worthwhile.”
The work project launches a five-year Mekong Build campaign, which will assist families in building affordable homes, according to the event press release. Habitat’s East King County affiliate donated $100,000 to the cause. Habitat for Humanity East King County has been preparing for this year’s project since January.
Dwight Martin said the families they helped had been working for weeks to complete their respective home’s foundation before the volunteers’ arrival. He and the others spent the week constructing walls, roofs and everything in between.
Just because some of the volunteers know how to build houses, does not everyone needs specific skills, he said. Anyone willing to pay his or her own way and work for the cause is encouraged to participate each year.
“For those of us who have the resources to go to a part of the world … (with people) that don’t have the resources, and to improve the place where they live, it’s just a lot of fun to be a part of that,” Dwight Martin said.
The workers will dedicate the homes to their owners Nov. 20, Mary Martin said.
Mary Martin, who has volunteered with various building projects in the past, said for many, working away from the tourist areas and with the families in need is the best part of it all.
“Filling a real need is really great,” she said.
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com.
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Oh that is great how they give back to the community like that and I hope they keep it up!!
[...] said. Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber[at]isspress.com. Local volunteers work with Jimmy Carter in Thailand : The Sammamish Review – News, Sports, Cla… __________________ To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a [...]