The Day Crew

In October 2010, I was half-heartedly making phone calls to any agency doing anything in my newly assigned neighborhood for a city beat. I dialed the city’s Habitat for Humanity office and asked if there was any construction happening between such and such streets. ”No,” he replied. ”But there’s a group of guys you might be interested in.”

Since 1991, a close-knit group of retirees has
helped to build 75 percent of the Habitat for Humanity homes in Columbia,
and they have no plans to stop anytime soon.
— read the story here, watch the video here.

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*Second place, "Best Feature Story," Missouri Press Foundation's 2011 Better Newspaper Contest.

Day Crew workers talk shop in the early morning hours prior to beginning work on a house in Columbia, Mo. The group, comprised mainly of retirees, has built over 75% of the Habitat for Humanity houses in the city over the last two decades.

Al Viola, a Day Crew member for many years, hangs siding on a newly-constructed house in Columbia, Mo.

Ross Swofford surveys the land around the newly-constructed Habitat house in Columbia, Mo., in September, 2010.

Hans Scherer, a Day Crew volunteer and self-described “handyman” fixes wiring outside the Habitat house in Columbia, Mo.

Chris Ruff, a 24-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran, works on a pipe inside his future home in Columbia, Mo.

Ross Swofford smiles during his day at work. Swofford and Day Crew leader Erv Murtzlufft began working together over 20 years ago in Columbia, Mo.

Day Crew leader Erv Murtzlufft watches as fellow Day Crew members work on the siding of a house in Columbia, Mo.

Murtzlufft, Viola and Swofford share a laugh during a lunch break on the worksite in September, 2010.

Scherer and fellow Day Crew member install electrical wiring in the house built for Chris Ruff, a veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Scherer walks out of the Habitat house after a full day of volunteer work in September, 2011.

Scherer holds a line for a fellow Day Crew worker outside a newly-constructed Habitat house in Columbia, Mo.

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