Local News
Duluth, Decatur Parishes Collaborate For Habitat
Published: April 29, 2010
Parishioners from St. Benedict and Sts. Peter and Paul parishes nail siding onto a home on Peeples Street, Atlanta. Catholics worked together to build the house with Habitat for Humanity. It was the 12th completed home-building project for St. Benedict Church, Duluth. (Photos provided by St. Benedict Church)
ATLANTA—Volunteers at St. Benedict Church finished their 12th home-build project for Habitat for Humanity.
Along with members of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Decatur, the volunteers worked on the home in Atlanta’s West End neighborhood on Peeples Street for a little less than two months.
“You get to see the results every day. You can point to it. You know someone is going to have a better life” because of your efforts, said Daryl Worley, a retired airline pilot and the coordinator for the Habitat Humanity Ministry at St. Benedict Church in Duluth.
During seven Saturdays in Lent, workers from two Catholic parishes erected a home with Habitat for Humanity in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta. The home was dedicated on April 17.
The work was done over a two-month period. Nearly 30 people from St. Benedict Church and 10 from Sts. Peter and Paul Church shared the labor. The group does all the work, except working on the foundation and home renovation that require a license, like plumbing or electrical work.
“We build 90 percent of a house on seven Saturdays,” Worley said.
The home was dedicated on April 17.
It takes a lot of work before people pick up hammers and nails, however. The parish raises about $35,000 as its contribution to the home-building effort. Worley said the money comes from special collections, proceeds from the Lent fish fry and generous benefactors who write checks. The Duluth parish participates in building one home a year.
