Coffeyville Hall Build

Our "hotel" room Michelle & Erica
Chuck & I
Inside view early on
Putting on the roof
Putting up the ceiling

Outside view
Erica in her pink tool belt
Erica, Brook & Amy
Getting ready to start the brick

Putting on the stucco
Trim work inside the hall before carpet
Chuck
Early stages inside

The last two week-ends of October we spent some time at the Coffeyville Kingdom Hall build. The entire building from start to finish was erected in just two week-ends. There were around 250 volunteers who helped, though not all at one time.

The work is very organized with "crews" assigned different times to work. Chuck and Erica are on the "electrical crew" and Dave is on the "Carpentry crew". When we first arrived early on the first Saturday morning, there was little more than the concrete slab and frame up. By Sunday evening of the second week-end all work was completed, including the landscaping outside.

All volunteers have to complete a safety course before being able to work and you must always have your hard hat on. There are "safety crews" who walk around and enforce such rules as not going above the second rung from the top of any ladders, etc. There is also a "kitchen crew" who makes breakfast, lunch and dinner for all the workers and a "first aid" crew who are on site in case of any accidents.

The "rooming committee" finds homes for the volunteer workers to stay in during the build. A nice couple we had never met welcomed us into their home. In fact, we still haven't met them, they were gone for the weekend and just opened there home up to strangers. What an example of Christian kindness!

As a result of the free labor, we are able to build our "Kindgom Halls" for much less money and they are often much nicer than the congregation could afford without such assistance.

You may remember Coffeyville had some pretty devastating flooding this summer. Here are some pictures I found on the internet:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kstatealec/CoffeyvilleFlood2007

There is still a lot of clean-up and rebuilding which needs to be done in Coffeyville. The flooding levels are very evident since the water contained a lot of oil. There are black "rings" on all the buildings which indicate how high the water rose. I am used to seeing muddy marks left behind after flooding but not grease.