Long before you enter the path of red clay leading the way to 859 Kidd Road in Caledonia, cars line the curves of the street. The rhythmic sound of hammers hard at work beckons you.

At the end of the path, 30-something volunteers are busy, putting finishing touches on the roof, applying Styrofoam boards and cloaking the home in moisture-barrier wrap.

Just three hours earlier, the edifice was barren, its beams exposed, offering a view of the beginnings of six bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, a kitchen and living room — the future home of the Wilsons, a family of 14.

“It’s really nice for all of them to show up. I feel really blessed,” said Lee Wilson, giving her hammer a few minutes rest as she looked on at volunteers; many of their shoes and ankles now were laden with red mud.

Though the air was muggy Wednesday and the noon sun began to rise from behind clouds, raising the temperature a few more degrees, the volunteers were glad to be there, for the second Columbus-Lowndes Habitat for Humanity Women Build Day.

“I’ve always liked to be involved and help the community and volunteer,” said Kary Collins, of Columbus. Collins participated in last year’s Women Build Day at 413 10th Ave. S., the first for the Columbus-Lowndes chapter of Habitat for Humanity, for a family of three.

Judy Simmons was there “just to volunteer.”

“I thought it would be very, very fun to help someone else,” she said.

Collins and Simmons, each mothers of two adult children, both work at Lowe’s, the company which sponsored the Women Build Day, giving a $5,000 grant to the Caledonia project and many more across the country.

Community support

The dedication and giving spirit of the volunteers did not surprise Lee.

“Ever since we got the kids, the community has been awesome,” she said. “Every day is another blessing. The base, the community has been very supportive.”

With four children of their own already living with them at Columbus Air Force Base, Dave and Lee Wilson in 2007 found themselves adopting eight more children from family.

With Mathew, 19, Cody, 17, Cory, 17, Wesley, 13, Samantha, 13, Kristen, 12, Matthew, 11, Patrick, 9, Phillip, 6, Joshua, 5, Rebecca, 4, and Joseph, 2, the Wilsons occupy two full houses at CAFB.

“The first day we got the kids and got here, I felt very overwhelmed,” said Lee, whose husband retired from the Air Force in March. (The Air Force agreed to let the Wilsons continue to live in two CAFB homes until their Habitat home is complete.)

It wasn’t long before Lee realized the community was adopting the children, as well.

With the help of the Air Force base and other community members, diapers, food, cribs and more seemed to just show up at the Wilsons’ doorstep, Lee recalled.

Neighbors helping neighbors

Nearby, Leonora Bateman climbed down from a ladder, from which she was helping to apply house wrap.

Bateman, wife of Air Force 2nd Lt. Drew Bateman, moved across the street from the Wilsons last Friday.

“I always try to help my neighbors,” the newlywed said of volunteering during the Women Build Day. An entomologist, Leonora Bateman’s project Wednesday was a bit different from her normal line of work.

Amy King, also a CAFB wife, had just met Lee Wednesday morning. She and her husband, Maj. Evan Whitehouse, have been in Columbus for two months.

“I thought that it was a good project for ladies to work on together, and we’re helping one of our own,” said King, a reporter whose husband regularly volunteered to work at Habitat build days in Arkansas and Georgia.

Her primary focus at those build days was to provide food, so she was glad to have her own opportunity to “hammer and bang.”

Ten Lowe’s employees volunteered during the Women Build Day, along with volunteers from CAFB and the Columbus and Lowndes County community. A local contractor oversaw the day’s work.

And despite the threat of inclement weather, Columbus-Lowndes Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Kathy Arinder said the day “could not have gone any smoother.”

By the end of the workday, which started at 9 a.m. and lasted until 4 p.m., more than 40 volunteers had helped with the home.

A gift waiting to be given

“We do this Women Build Day to generate interest in doing a total Women Build, where a house is funded by women and built by women,” said Arinder, who hopes to organize such a project soon. “There has not been a complete Women Build in Columbus, and I would really like to see the (local) women’s groups come together and put a Women Build together, to help fund it and build it.”

A Crawford family Arinder is working with is a perfect opportunity for a Women Build, she said.

Shala Hines, of Crawford, is a single mother with a son and daughter in college; she also has an infant grandchild.

Hines works two jobs and is taking classes through Mississippi State University to get a teaching degree. (One of her jobs is working as an assistant teacher at West Lowndes Elementary School.)

She has been living in a mobile home with a leaky roof, problems with mold, no heat and only one functional bathroom.

“I would also like to see the community of Crawford get involved since this is the first home we will build in the area,” Arinder said previously.

The Wilson home is expected to be completed by end of the summer. Excluding this Saturday, Arinder expects to have workdays at the home most Saturdays through the end of the summer.

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