Couple travels to build homes

Home to finish their taxes, Bernie and Aurey Ussery relax for a few moments Tuesday in their Vandenberg Village home before hitting the road again to build houses for those unable to afford the structures themselves.

Audrey and Bernie Ussery have driven to Hope, Ark., and Plains, Ga. They visited Darlington, S.C., and even rode a lap on the speedway. They visited Vero Beach, Fla., though they missed the Los Angeles Dodgers' spring training.

They've worked in Newfoundland and New Zealand.

They just returned from Slidell, La. Next stop: Port Townsend, Wash.

Now in their 70s, the Usserys travel to build homes for Habitat for Humanity. In the past nine years they have built 67 houses in 14 states and worn out two motor homes, but they're not quitting anytime soon.

The couple are part of Habitat's RV Care-A-Vanners, a corps of 6,000 retirees who work two-week stints at 140 building sites.

The Usserys are so involved they have served as Care-A-Van leaders on 13 builds including big ones in Saginaw, Mich., (44 RVs and 88 builders) and Stanford, Ky. (43 rigs and 86 workers).

“You've got to get 'em there and you've got to get ‘em parked,” Bernie says, with a laugh.

Click on the Habitat Web site and go to “Ongoing Builds,” or “Hurricane Rebuilding” or “Build Listing” and Bernie and Audrey are pictured right there. Bernie is the hefty gent with white goatee and Audrey is in front of him with her curly blond hair, big glasses and radiant smile.

“We're spending our children's inheritance,” Audrey says, bubbling. Chatty and personable enough to sell a gas-guzzling vehicle to Al Gore, she enjoys caulking, siding and finish work. Bernie does everything, except for roofs.

“We have people who you have to show which end of a hammer to use and you see them in a couple years and they're heading a team,” Bernie says, with the drawl of his rural Arkansas boyhood.

He deals a photograph onto the kitchen table. It is of Care-A-Vanners at a build. Most are in their 60s. “Now, if that bunch pulled in to your place what would you think?” he asks, a twinkle behind his glasses. He expects an answer involving pills and arthritis.

“The first time people expect just a bunch of old people. They're shocked when they see we can finish a house in a couple weeks. We have to tell the build manager to keep the supplies coming.”

The Usserys were part of one team that erected exterior walls in just two hours and 20 minutes.

Bernie Ussery left the Air Force in 1982 as a chief master sergeant, then spent 15 years with TRW and Lockheed. The couple moved to Lompoc in 1994 when Bernie was contracts coordinator for construction of the Atlas launch pad at Vandenberg.

They heard about Habitat for Humanity from other RVers in Alaska on their first post-retirement trip.

“This is something we need to look into,” Bernie recalls saying. “We got to talking to people. I had just retired and it seemed interesting. They build, they travel and that's something we thought we wanted to do.”

Their first build was in Americus, Ga., where their team built 25 homes in five days. Their second was in nearby Plains, where they met former president Jimmy Carter.

“In Americus, 25 families moved into their new homes on Easter Sunday,” Bernie continues, with pride beaming across his face. “You go back in three or four years and see the difference.”

Recipients, who must contribute at least 300 hours of their own “sweat equity” and also make payments for their homes, keep them in good condition, the Usserys said.

“This is not a giveaway program,” Audrey insists as she looks her visitor in the eye and her smile momentarily vanishes. “That's the biggest misunderstanding about Habitat. The Care-A-Vanners’ motto is ‘Not a handout but a hand up.'”

Habitat, a non-denominational Christian organization founded in 1976, has built more than 200,000 houses, sheltering more than a million people worldwide. The agency began the RV Care-A-Vanners in 1988 on a handful of sites. Billed as “RV Travel with a Purpose,” the program engages the growing number of retirees not interested in sitting on a couch.

Many are educators or doctors or military. “They are all the giving kind of people,” Audrey Ussery points out. “They all say, ‘We were just sitting at home not doing anything for anybody.'”

Work teams open their day with morning devotions, then work six-to-seven-hour workdays. They bring their own hand tools, but the local Habitat affiliate provides power tools, building materials, instruction and direction. Some Care-A-Vanners go to just one build a year; some, like the Usserys, go to as many as six. After Port Townsend, they will see Kalispell, Mont., and Provo, Utah.

“It's not inexpensive,” Audrey emphasized. “Care-A-Vanners have to have a family income.”

The Usserys' motor home consumes a gallon of diesel fuel every 8.7 miles. Parking and hookups, and meals other than lunch, must be paid for by the volunteers. Only a few expenses may be tax deductible.

The Usserys' neighbors and friends and the Sheriff's Department watch their home while they are away. They have suffered no injuries. So they have no plans to stop.

“When we started, we said we'd do it for five years,” Bernie says, grinning. “This is the third motor home. In 2003 I thought that would be the end of it. I had back surgery. But it went so well I went out and bought another motor home.” He roars with laughter.

The Usserys consider their vagabond construction life as fulfilling as their space-race-work lives prior to retirement. They savor sitting around a campfire with co-workers at the building site sharing stories of families and children and where they will drive and build next.

“I was always on the cutting edge of technology,” Bernie reflects in a quiet moment. “Seeing the results of a first-of-its-kind satellite.”

Audrey completes the thought, “We have a community of people we had when we were working and we have a new one now.”

Bernie breaks back in. “Port Townsend is already full up, 10 rigs.”

How to help

Habitat for Humanity's Northern Santa Barbara County chapter has a number of projects planned, but the group is still looking for funds and volunteers.

Seven homes are slated for Lompoc and 50 percent of the funding is in place. That project needs to be finished by February 2008, according to executive director Richard Brown.

Five homes are planned in Guadalupe, but there is no construction funding at this time, he said.

Another home in Mission Hills that was damaged by fire is slated for repair, but funding is needed, Brown said.

To date, the 12-year-old group has built four homes in Santa Maria and two homes in Lompoc. The primary mission of the organization is to build or repair homes for families with a household income that is less than 50 percent of the county median, or $32,350 for a family of four.

All prospective homeowners are required to earn a certain amount of “sweat equity” by working on their house.

For more information or to make a donation, see the group's Web site at www.nsbhabitat.com..

- Malia Spencer

Correspondent John McReynolds can be reached at 736-6352 or johnny544@verizon.net

By John McReynolds/Record Correspondent