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By Lauren Varney
A few months ago one of our staff suggested Home Resource start a program called Neighbors in Need. The gist of it is this: Neighborhood associations, community members, other charitable organizations would identify a neighborhood need, such as a resident who needed a wheel chair ramp and is living on a fixed income, a park bench that needs repair, or a vacant lot to be turned into a neighborhood garden. Since Home Resource has lots of materials and a few individuals with “expertise” in these dilemmas, we would spearhead the coordination of the project and supply as many reusable materials as possible.
While we were preliminarily considering the merits and parameters of this endeavor, a project came and jumped in our lap. I received an email about a month ago from Elaine Sheff about her son, Zane. Now Zane is a sweet boy but he sure does like to climb, and can climb right over his current fence (as I witnessed on my first visit to their house). So a taller fence was needed and since Zane likes to climb, why not build him something to climb on, something like a tree fort complete with a slide and a climbing wall (climbing holds like at a rock gym)!
I began working with Elaine to plan three work parties and coordinate the donations of materials that would be needed. The project itself consists of building about 120′ of fence with two gates, and a 6′x16′ tree house. Boyce lumber agreed to donate half of the fence posts and concrete material if Home Resource bought the other half. We bought new cedar posts because pressure treated posts are full of chemicals (unfortunately the only used fence posts currently available from Home Resource are either pressure treated or non-cedar, which would rot quicker in the ground than cedar would). Ace Hardware provided a $50 gift certificate. Cedar Products Unlimited donated the fence slats, and Premiere Paints donated an environmentally friendly sealant for the fence. And Secure Fence, a local fencing contractor, met with me to discuss logistics and allowed me to bounce ideas off of them. They also donated the use of a trailer and a skid steer with an auger that is used to punch holes for fence posts. 
Even with the machine-punched holes it took three or four volunteers two full days to dig out the holes, and gosh I just love this rocky lake bottom “soil.” Those days were the 18th and 19th of July, and then next week on the 25th four volunteers put the posts in concrete. The final volunteer day was Saturday, August 1st. We had approx 15 volunteers who helped attach fence boards, built a treehouse, and put a coat of sealant on the fence so it will last a lifetime.
I would like to thank Will Edwards, Jonathon Jacobson, Jim Willett, Tom Strange, Gary with Secure Fence, Travis who loaned us a cement mixer, and the above mentioned stores who contributed materials to their community at need (Elaine has a list of some other contributors). Elaine’s # is 241-8026, and my cell is 880-8240. Please call us to find out more about how the project went.
