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Laredo, Webb County
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More Than 90 Volunteers Come Out for a Blitz Build on the Sept. 11 Anniversary
Christman was joined by his fellow fire fighters from station 7, shift C and about 80 other volunteers from various groups around the county including the principal and staff of Salvador Garcia Middle School, in Rio Bravo; the criminal justice club from LBJ high school, Phi Delta from TAMIU and several professional builders Millenium Homes. "Project 'Building Dreams' is our most ambitious endeavor in our 10-year history," said Carol Sherwood, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Webb County. "Our goal is to build 10 houses this year." The site for project "Building Dreams" is the 1200 block of Paseo de Danubio in Rio Bravo, Texas. Currently, six houses have been erected and are at various stages of completion. The foundation for the remaining four homes should be poured by the end of September. The special 9-11 workday was an effort to get as many volunteers as possible to try to get as much done as possible on the six erected homes; it was a "Blitz Build" in HFH terminology. The effort was fruitful. Houses one, two, three and five had cabinets installed, doors hung, plus trim work and window sills. House four was painted on the outside and house six was primed inside. House one and two should be ready for the Aguillion and Almendarez homeowner partner families, respectively, by three to four weeks in large part due to this effort. "The event was a wonderful success," said Paul Martinez, HFH Resource Coordinator. "Now, the goal is to follow up with the groups that came out to volunteer that day, and get them to come more often." The morning started with a devotional dedicated to the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and to our fighting men and women around the world. “We pray for the people on the front lines: our firefighters, police officers and military,” Sherwood said during the devotional. “Around the world there are people volunteering with HFH International just like we are today.”
Laredo fire fighters James Christman, Lee Thorton, Ricky Castillo, Gustavo Villarreal, Jerry Rangel, Andy Jimenez and Ricky Jaime remembered their fallen comrades in New York Sept. 11 by volunteering for HFH in Rio Bravo.
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E-mail questions or comments about this web site to habitatlaredo@aol.com.
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"I can't think of a better way to remember our fallen comrades in New York than by going out and building something so worth while." Those were the words of Laredo Fire Fighter James Christman, one of the volunteers who spent the better part of Sept. 11, 2004 working on "Project Building Dreams" in Rio Bravo, Texas.