Volunteers put deck on Haven House

By Staff, 07/12/18 8:54 PM

PRESCOTT – A group of volunteers with the Ozark Mission Project came to Prescott Monday to build a deck on the “Haven House”.

Haven House is a house donated to Michelle Rhodes which will be used as a temporary shelter for those in need. The house has been gutted, with a new roof installed and new wiring being done. The volunteers from the mission project were there to build a 12×12 foot deck on the back of the structure.

Scott Blackerby, with the First United Methodist Church of Leonard, TX, said the nine groups were based in Magnolia, with each being sent to a different part of the state to do volunteer work. His crew consisted of five high school students, three boys and two girls.

No one knew any of the others initially, he said, but they bonded while working on the project and also learned valuable life lessons. The group, Blackerby continued, didn’t used hammers and nails as the deck is being connected with screws and power tools. The students, he added, are learning how to use the power tools, with safety being stressed.

Blackerby has been doing this sort of thing six years with his church and has been to New Orleans, the Henderson Settlement in Kentucky and San Marcos, TX, working to help those in need and improve communities.

“We try to go where the program has been established and the community takes part. We look for established programs and places like this. You have a good setup here.”

For Blackerby, this is his summer mission trip, as well as a vacation of sorts. He took time off work to do this volunteer work and returns home once it’s done. It took two days to build the deck for the Haven House and once it was done he and the crew returned to Magnolia for another assignment for the rest of the week. He brought his own tools while the materials for the deck were supplied.

He said the students were shy initially, but got along well and learned to understand one another.

The deck is made of treated yellow pine, a standard decking material.