Et cetera : NCCC Team Builds Homes for Families in Des Moines

Maple 4 poses in front of a Rock the Block trailer.

Unique R.K. Watts and Jasmine Christopher use a table saw to cut wood for window paneling.

By Jill Ament

The AmeriCorps NCCC team of Maple 4 finished their work with the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo, Iowa, last Friday and are now working on the second half of their project round in Des Moines.

The team left the NCCC Vinton campus on Monday, April 1, and is spending the next four weeks in Iowa’s capital city working with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Des Moines (GDM Habitat). The goal for the team is to complete at least 6 homes during the month of April and 15-20 home repairs through GDM Habitat’s Rock the Block program. Rock the Block is a multi-day event, in which GDM Habitat partners with homeowners and families that earn 60% less than the median area income. Repairs include home maintenance, weatherization, lot clean up and landscaping.

“I’m looking forward to helping build these houses. I came to NCCC to do that,” says Maple 4 Corps Member Jasmine Christopher from Brooklyn, NY. Christopher also says she’s looking forward to the change of pace from the food bank, anticipating work like painting and landscaping.

GDM Habitat brings people together to build homes, communities and hope. The non-profit engages low-income homebuyers earning 30-60% of the area median income and community volunteers to build and rehabilitate houses which are sold at no profit and financed with a 20-year, no interest mortgage.