08/15/11 Loyal Habitat for Humanity volunteers spent several hours on Saturday salvaging anything usable from a house that is slated for demolition. The houses located at 11942 and 12010 1-B Road in LaPaz are just two of the properties being cleared for the U.S. 31 project that is basically realigning U.S. 30 in Plymouth to the U.S. 20 bypass in South Bend. Construction is underway and will probably continue through 2014. This project is a part of the larger Major Moves initiative to upgrade the route to freeway standards from Indianapolis to South Bend.
Jim Pinkerton, Media Relations Director for InDot (LaPorte District), said InDot (Indiana Department of Transportation) said ,”Once a property is awarded to a contractor for demolition, anything in the house becomes their property.” Pinkerton said, “Working to salvage materials through partnerships such as Habitat for Humanity is something InDot tries to do.” Walsh and Kelly Contractors provided the opportunity for Habitat for this project.
Pinkerton said, “There are about 425 parcels being acquired for the US 31 project corridor, but not all of those include homes.”
On Saturday, the volunteers were able to reclaim kitchen cabinets, windows, bi-fold doors and screens that can be sold in Habitat Resale Stores. They also collected a considerable amount of aluminum that can be sold as scrap material.
Habitat volunteers included Dean Byers, Steve Guriel, Ralph Burkholder, Alyson Kruse, and Steve Calhoun.
Guriel said, “All of the profits from this stay in Marshall County.” “We raise dollars to build more affordable housing.” Guriel said.
