USW 449 Members Help Build Home for Veteran in Oakland

PHOTO: Left to right - Huhtamaki workers Levi Orff, Bob Hennigan, Dan Caloumbe, Justin Eames, Gary Nelson, Roy Barnaby & Paul Clark on the Habitat for Humanity project in Waterville.

Millwrights who work at the Huhtamaki mill recently helped build a Habitat for Humanity home for a military veteran and his two children. The USW Local 449 members, in collaboration with the mill and Habitat, volunteered their labor to help build the three-bedroom ranch-style home on Jacques Lane off High Street. Some of the workers previously built other houses for Waterville Area Habitat for Humanity, including one right next to the current project.

USW 449 member Corey Soucier, a union steward who works in the mill's smooth finish maintenance department, said he volunteered for the project after the company approached workers looking for help.  

"It's great to feel the accomplishment of building something for a veteran in need with a couple of kids," said Soucier. "It's very rewarding."

Peter Phair, executive director for Waterville Habitat for Humanity, told the Morning Sentinel that the Local 449 members arrived to a concrete slab on a Monday and by Tuesday they had the home framed up and worked the rest of the week.

“These guys are amazing,” Phair said.

Phair told the paper that the veteran, while unavailable for comment, had “come a long way,” was taking classes and was grateful for the opportunity to buy a house.

“He lives with his sister in South China,” Phair said. “The kids sleep in the trailer and he sleeps in a tool shed on the property.”

Soucier said he met the veteran and that he was very thankful to the workers for helping him secure permanent housing. Learning of the veteran's current living situation "made us work even harder to get that buttoned up for him," he added.

Founded in 1976 with the vision for a “world where everyone has a decent place to live,” Habitat for Humanity has helped more than 39 million individuals and families secure homes. Under Habitat’s arrangement, owners pay for the home and must be financially qualify for a loan, but they pay no more than 30 percent of their income on their mortgage. The organization relies on donations, grants and volunteers like our USW 449 brothers and sisters.