Twenty years ago, it took Carol Dunn a lot longer to build a house.
“My dad taught me to use hand tools,” she said. “We didn’t have power tools. I didn’t start using power tools until I started with Habitat.”
She was 61 then. Now, the 81-year old shies away from the term “old”, but prefers “experienced”.
As one of Habitat for Humanity’s ‘weekday warriors’, she definitely doesn’t shy away from hard work.
“People think women like to paint and some do but some of us would prefer something like this,” she said while drilling holes in wooden planks high atop a ladder.
Even at her age, it’s a sight other volunteers are getting used to seeing.
“She doesn’t let it stop her at all,” said site supervisor Kristi Thum. “I had her framing the other day when it was hot out and she was down there nailing away.”
Habitat for Humanity set a goal to build 45 homes in Pinellas County in 2016. Dunn has lost track of how many homes she’s helped build over the last two decades.
She just wants to keep going.
“I think most people, if they find something they like to do, are willing to do things to help others,” she said. “I don’t see any reason to stop. There are a few things I can’t do anymore. As long as I can is the answer.”
Dunn is also part of a Habitat committee that helps find prospective home owners and guides them through the organization’s “sweat equity” program, where new owners are required to put in volunteer hours on their houses.
