Wrapping up a very fruitful week

What an incredible week of travelling across the country to meet some very generous and committed builders. It is truly a week that I will not forget.

I got home (Cary, N.C.) Thursday night. It was nice to get back. I was back out early Friday morning, though, to visit a 10-house build taking place in three separate North Carolina counties, all sponsored by the members of the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham counties. Each home is being delivered to Habitat by the builders at no cost!

I was joined by Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) board member and builder Ken Klein from Tulsa, Okla., and National Association of Home Builders representative Jim Sattler from Iowa, as well as Home Builders Blitz founder Tom Gipson and his wife, Pat. We attended the dedication of three homes in Hillsborough, N.C., where I had the privilege of presenting a Bible (a Habitat tradition) to each of the partner families as we celebrated the completion of their homes.

Following that event, we traveled over to Durham to meet their builders, view the homes, and witness an incredible scene of 350 employees of Burt's Bees (a Durham company) volunteering with nonprofit organization KaBoom! to build a neighborhood playground and community garden. Burt's Bees shut down its entire operation for the day (pretty amazing!) to come out and help complete a beautiful subdivision, Hope Crossing. Burt's Bees CEO John Replogle, was out there with his team in the 100-degree heat sweating away, completing this playground. John also serves on the Durham Habitat board of directors. The homes were beautiful and completed a day ahead of schedule.

In the evening we joined the homeowners, builders and staff of Chatham County HFH at their dedication of two homes in Siler City. Building there were Frank Weisner and fellow blogger, Jim Garman. Frank headed up the entire 10-house project and Jim is known for his decade-long participation in a cross-country bike ride that began at his alma mater, Yale University, as a way to raise funds for Habitat.

Early Saturday we were off to South Hampton Roads Habitat in Suffolk, Va., where we were able to congratulate the team there on the completion of SIXTEEN homes in five days – the largest Home Builders Blitz of the year. The energy and pride was palpable – despite record high temperatures. This subdivision was absolutely beautiful with a combination of 11 two-story homes and five single-story homes, a major transformation from 100 days ago when the area was still overgrown with brush. All homes in the subdivision were built to Earth Craft green building standards – a component of this year's build across the country.

Sunday, colleague Lauren Craven (who had traveled the country as well) and I relaxed with a seven-mile kayak trip down the Haw River in North Carolina. A great way to decompress from a hectic, but very, very fruitful week.

Many thanks to the thousands of people who put their hearts into Home Builders Blitz 2008 and have made it a life-changing success for 263 families across the country. We are deeply grateful to all of you and looking forward to crossing paths again in a future event.

- Kevin Campbell