The University of Wisconsin - Superior sent a group of 10 students to Portland, Maine over spring break to lend a hand to the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland (H4HGP).   

UW-Superior has an organized program called the Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, headed by student leadership coordinator Ann Miller.

This group of 10 was selected through an interview process conducted by Miller and Aaron Wainman, student coordinator of the trip. The other nine students included Kelly Bergstrom, Melanie Bradshaw, Samantha Licht, Nick Loining, Cory Mareno, Lindsey Schiff, Savannah Smith, Monte Stewart, and Katie Thill.

“Going to a place like Portland, Maine may seem a little counterintuitive, but I really like showing the students that there is need all over, even in places that may seem a bit more upper crust,” said Miller.

The ASB group departed from Superior on Friday, March 12 and returned on Sunday, March 21. They traveled by van through the upper peninsula of Michigan and continued through Canada for the quickest route to their destination. They stayed in Munising, Michigan their first night and Ottawa, Ontario their second night.

The group from UW-Superior arrived at their destination in Windham, Maine in the late afternoon on March 14, totaling 24+ hours of driving time. The students stayed at “The Farm” which is a house that was bought two years ago by H4HGP.

The work began early on Monday, March 15. The group met at the ReStore, which is a store located in the warehouse building that takes in donated materials and resells them at a discount to the public, with all funds going towards Habitat efforts. The ReStore also serves as H4HGP's Headquarters. The group was introduced to Ben Davison, Site Supervisor and Construction Manager for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland.

After that, the group headed to the first site located in Freeport, Maine.  The home on the site was donated by LL Bean and is referred to as “Green Bean”. They transferred the Green Bean house from a piece of land bought by LL Bean, one of the top employers in the state of Maine. The house was in need of a lot of work and has already cost H4HGP $125,000, which is their usual budget for an entire house.

Habitat’s goal is to make their sites as energy efficient as possible. When this house is finished, it will cost the new owner half as much per year as a normally constructed house. Davison said, “Green Bean is more expensive and time consuming than our regular houses, but it is still an opportunity to build a house for a family.”

The house will be sold to the Cote family, a single mother and her five year old son. They will pay $135,000 for the house, even though the house will be worth $225,000 when finished. A bank nearby Freeport has agreed to 0% interest on the house meaning that the Cote family will have to pay $135,000 and not a cent more.

On Tuesday, March 16, the group headed to the Westbrook site located in Westbrook, Maine. This house will be sold to another single mother named Danine and her three kids. The ASB group worked on the foundation at the Westbrook site. They set up the flooring for what will be the basement and prepared the foundation to be filled with cement, and also bolted in sills for the foundation.

Wednesday, March 17, the crew had work off. It was St. Patrick's Day so they decided to head to Boston, Massachusetts where they visited historic places such as Paul Revere's house and the Old Granary Burying Ground and tourist attractions such as the original Cheers bar and the Boston Common.

Thursday, March 18, the group went back to work. They headed back to the Green Bean site where they worked on various tasks. The crew worked on dry walling the house, tiling the ceiling to the main entrance, and putting up trim on the front porch. They also cleaned up all the excess dry wall and wood chunks from the house and took them to a local dump.

Friday, March 19 the students worked a half-day before heading back to Superior.  The crew headed back to the Green Bean site where they worked on mudding the dry wall from the previous day. They also finished the trim at the front porch.

The crew departed from Maine on Friday and stayed in Montreal, Canada that night. After driving all day Saturday, the group ended up staying in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan Saturday night. They woke up early Sunday morning for the final drive home. Everyone made it back safely that afternoon. Samantha Licht reflected, “I was able to live and work with a very diverse group of people.”

Davison told the crew that they were the most efficient group he has had the privilege to work with to date. The crew learned a lot about being green and how much energy can be saved when people go green. “I think our crew gained skills that are extremely valuable to us and it is something we can carry with us for the rest of their lives,” said Nick Loining.

The group also learned about the importance of energy efficiency.  “The thing I am most proud of is that Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland builds energy efficient houses at low costs; there is a common misconception that green building is expensive and we have proved that wrong,” said Davison.

H4HGP is scheduled to finish three houses by the end of August. They usually build four to five houses per year. In a couple of years, they want to be up to eight houses per year.