Brae Builders Help with 6 New Homes in Roxbury

This month Morris Habitat for Humanity completed a new 6 unit condominium building on Main Street in Succasunna. Our very own Bonnie "Brae Builders" have been a part of this project since the beginning, and were on-hand for the building dedication. They were proud of their efforts and enjoyed showing CEO Paul Rieger around the property. Morris Habitat for Humanity's Homeowner Sustainability Coordinator, Rich Cooke, has been working with our Brae Builders and shared the following, "Our partnership with Bonnie Brae is doing good things to help our families and help the boys from Bonnie Brae! A huge part of this is due to the Faithful, Steve Barratt, Donna Ricca, John Stromberg, Russ Moran to name a few. Steve has worked numerous Tuesdays and Wednesdays with the (Bonnie Brae) boys. Jeff or I will assign a couple of boys to work on an aspect of the project and they're quickly on track.  At the end of each day Steve thanks me for the experience. Donna has organized and run trainings and continues to work closely teaching the boys onsite.  She had a great way of connecting with them while pushing for craftsmanship! John Stromberg is beyond amazing, like always! Today, was a great example of the impact John has.  (Brae Builder) Jordan, a smart, fun, very capable kid was not going to come today. He had had a bad night on campus and spoke with his teacher Kristina this morning. He told her that he wasn't in a good place and shouldn't come out, today. His teacher Jeff spoke with Jordan and asked him about the work he was doing with John. Jordan decided to come to 121 Main St. When he got out of the van, he said to me he was having a bad time. Jeff took him to get started with John. Within ten minutes,  Jordan came to ask if Evan (a Brae Builder) could work with him, as he needed some one to run the chop saw for him. Evan is 18, and very capable with the saw.  Today, Evan was promoted to Journeyman,  by the way. The two of them spent the day building and installing HVAC chases for John with very little instruction. At the end of the day,  Jordan was very proud to show me what they had built! Russ has worked with (Brae Builder) Matt a lot!  Matt was promoted to Journeyman,today and that was well deserved! Several weeks ago,  Russ had Matt going through all six kitchens in 119, adjusting and aligning all of the cabinet doors.  This can be tedious and requires much patience. Matt did it!  The next thing I see Matt doing is cutting and installing flooring alongside Russ (who is exacting, when it comes to flooring. I recently observed Russ chastise a member of the Faithful for being sloppy). These and other Faithful are doing great things for the boys and in turn, the boys are doing great things for our customers!!! Thank you for making this partnership a significant part of MHFH!" The Bonnie Brae Builders are part of Bonnie Brae's Community Volunteer and Work Experience Program which provides on and off campus opportunities for our youth to gain hands-on work and community service experience. In addition to Morris Habitat for Humanity, Bonnie Brae has relationships with more than 16 outside community partners. On any given day youth are going off-grounds working as volunteers in the community with organizations such as America’s Grow-A-Row, Liberty Science Center, Raptor Trust and more. In their time with Habitat for Humanity, our youth have helped build and renovate more than 70 homes.