They may not live at 3515 Jenny Dale Drive in Dallas, Texas, but it will always be the house the Bruhahns helped build.<\/p>\n
Together with a team of 250 other Habitat For Humanity volunteers from around the country, Brian and Kristen Bruhahn of unincorporated King County near Kent added their sweat and effort to build nine homes in the small neighborhood just outside the center of the city, including the three-bedroom rambler home on Jenny Dale Drive.<\/p>\n
It was a long November week of 10-plus-hour days, but by the end of it the long hours were worth it: A new home stood where a simple concrete slab sat the week before.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been that tired at the end of week ever in my life,\u201d Brian said with a hearty laugh this past week, adding that the home went from trusses to \u201cdarn near livable in five days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like a swarm of busy bees on a house and … it\u2019s done!\u201d Kristen added, twirling her hands frantically in front of her for a moment.<\/p>\n
Brian, an account manger for Whirlpool, first got involved through the company\u2019s Building Blocks program. A longtime sponsor of Habitat For Humanity, Whirlpool employees are given the opportunity to take a week of work building homes alongside the families that live in them.<\/p>\n
The company also donates a refrigerator and range for each Habitat build.<\/p>\n
Brian said he first picked up a hammer in New Orleans during a January 2007 national sales meeting. Teams of Whirlpool employees spent a day in the Ninth Ward, the section of the city hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.<\/p>\n
More than a year later, Brian said four of five homes were still destroyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe devastation was incredible and the rebuilding was incredible,\u201d he said. \u201cWe saw things down there the TV just can\u2019t bring you.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his one-day blitz in New Orleans, Brian returned ready to continue volunteering. Kristen, whose father volunteers locally with Habitat for Humanity, decided to get involved as well.<\/p>\n
When the opportunity arose for 150 Whirlpool employees and 100 others to work on a full block in Dallas, the Bruhahns leaped at the chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere one goes the other goes,\u201d Kristen said with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s a team; You get us both.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through a lottery system, Brian received one of the employee slots. Whirlpool not only paid for Brian\u2019s expenses, but also allowed him to take the week without having to burn any vacation time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhirlpool made it really easy for me to volunteer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kristen also received a spot on the team, but had to pay her own travel expenses.<\/p>\n
The crew worked on nine homes, and though contractors were brought in to do plumbing, electrical, drywall and other highly-skilled tasks, but the volunteers did the rest.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did everything. We did siding, finish work, painting, installed windows…\u201d Kristen listed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was hard,\u201d Brian said. \u201cWe went back to the hotel every night dog tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s a good kind of tired,\u201d Kristen said. \u201cEverybody was there for the families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working with the family – an Ethiopian couple with two children – made it all worth it, Kristen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great family. It was very emotional at the dedication,\u201d Brian agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a handout. These are hard-working, deserving families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Bruhahns said they do a lot of volunteering at home, but plan on continuing their work with Habitat in the Puget Sound region.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal is to do it two times a month,\u201d Kristen said. \u201cI encourage everyone to volunteer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never realize how rewarding it was until you get deeply involved,\u201d Brian said. \u201cDon\u2019t make excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Learn more<\/p>\n
For more information about Habitat For Humanity visit www.seattle-habitat.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They may not live at 3515 Jenny Dale Drive in Dallas, Texas, but it will always be the house the Bruhahns helped build.
\nTogether with a team of 250 other Habitat For Humanity volunteers from around the country, Brian and Kristen Bruhahn of unincorporated King County near Kent added their sweat and effort to build nine homes in the small neighborhood just outside the center of the city, including the three-bedroom rambler home on Jenny Dale Drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":20699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-20698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20698"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=20698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}