Home Renovations - June 2009
Northern Cheyenne Reservation
It’s another cold and wet June in southeastern Montana and as a foreboding dark grey wall of sky approaches, five Northern Cheyenne high school students and their vocational teacher are working with Red Feather staff to finish the tar paper on a roof they’re replacing. Two students staple string along the seams while the others begin installing new drip edge, learning to use tin snips to cut laps for their corners. The wind and rain come in that night, the felt paper holds and two days later there is a new standing seam metal roof in place on Northern Cheyenne elder, Irma Bear Chum’s home.
Without a straw bale home to build this year, Red Feather collaborated with Lame Deer High School (LDHS), the Housing Improvement Program (HIP) and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) office, to create a 3 week home renovation class for local teenagers. Each party provided support to make this experimental program a success. All building materials were purchased by HIP through a grant from PPL Montana. LDHS provided transportation for the students to and from the projects and offered 1/2 a credit for successful completion of the class. Through WIA, the students earned minimum wage and Red Feather provided instructors, tools and equipment. Each day, lunches for the crew were generously provided by community members and local programs, broadening the network of support for the projects.
In the process of completing the work, the students got a chance to use a wide array of hand and power tools. The work included:
- Tearing off a shingled roof and replacing it with standing seam metal
- Installing rain gutters and downspouts
- Patching, mudding and taping drywall
- Installing new kitchen cabinets, counters and sinks
- Installing vinyl flooring
- Installing a bathroom vanity
- Rebuilding a wheelchair ramp
- Replacing and trimming windows
The improvements were completed on two homes of elderly residents of Lame Deer, Irma Bear Chum and Huberta Killsnight. Each family’s kitchen was redone and Huberta Killsnight’s home has a new bathroom vanity, sink and tub surround. The Killsnights have all new energy efficient windows that will save them money on heating bills in the winter. Both homes have new gutters and downspouts to channel water away from the foundation.
The projects ended with a heated basketball game between Red Feather staff (with some youthful local help) and the Lame Deer High School students. LDHS triumphed in the end, but not without brilliant outside shooting from high scorer Marilynn “Kobe eat your heart out” Cochran and some power moves in the paint from Mark “Shaq’s a joke” Jensen.
This fall, all parties involved plan to explore the idea of expanding the program to include an “off-season” construction course at LDHS. Students would learn to build components of a straw bale home and be on site in June to install them and assist with the home construction project.
