JCWP BEHIND-THE-SCENES:SECURITY VOLUNTEERS
"We really wanted tape that said, 'Police Line: Do Not Cross,'" says Melody Winnig of Wayland, Mass. She and the other security volunteers at this year's Jimmy Carter Work Project are wearing the next best thing: sashes made from yellow tape imprinted: "CAUTION."
Security volunteers are stationed at the entrance points to each of the build sites. And what are these volunteers responsible for? "We keep people from going down the one-way street the wrong way," says Winnig -- the streets bordering the Magnolia Park site have been made one-way to allow more room for the building crews and their supplies.
"That's had quite an impact on the local community," says Jim Bundscho, a volunteer from Houston. In addition to local traffic, these streets also are accommodating contractors' vehicles, media trucks, and volunteer shuttle buses coming to and from the work site. The security team coordinates the drop-off and pick-up points for these shuttle buses, which take volunteers back and forth between the work site and the university dorms, where volunteers sleep and have meals.
Security volunteers update each other through high-powered walkie-talkies, whose range reaches to another JCWP build site a few miles away. Should any emergency arise, police cars and law enforcement personnel are on hand to assist at each site.
Because of their location at the edge of the work site, security volunteers are often the ones curious onlookers turn to for information about the build. "People ask me questions from, 'Can I get this note to Jimmy' to people asking how they can volunteer, or how they can get houses," says Winnig.
This is her second Jimmy Carter Work Project -- last year, she and her husband worked on a Habitat house in Pikeville, Ky. This year, the Winnigs brought their sons as well. Originally assigned to construction, she traded spots with one of her sons assigned to the security team so that he could experience a Habitat blitz build as a construction volunteer.
Winnig is content with this new assignment. "My job is interesting," she says. "You get to see the whole site and get a feel for the flow of things."