From Bobby Mitchell, Technical Sales Representative
for Laticrete International:
“The volunteers really worked as a team and
everyone had a great attitude and wanted to get the
job done. None of them sat back – sometimes with
volunteers you have a handful that will work and others
that sit back and don’t do as much. Everyone
in this group wanted to learn.”
From Brandon Street, Retail Sales Specialist for James
Hardie Building Products:
“Very rarely do you find so many people working
toward a common goal without getting anything out of
it, but with this project everyone was giving to give
back for the sake of helping someone else. I worked
with the volunteers to teach them how to cut and install
our product. James Hardie is so good about training
us so that we can work to show them what we call our “Best
Practices” method of installation. The volunteers
were the greatest. I worked with Lester and the others
to show them how to do it and they made it happen.”
From Lester Stephen, Tile Contractor, on what impressed him about the Wal-Mart
volunteers:
“How well the volunteers responded to what I
showed them. I’d tell them things that were really
important and simple ways to do them. They just picked
it up and started doing it. I wish that’s the
way it is normally – I made the rounds to make
sure they were doing it right and they were. It was
amazing – I couldn’t believe the progress!”
From Shannon Jones, Member of Wal-Mart’s IT
Department in Bentonville, Arkansas:
“I was impressed with the Habitat crew and industry
members – with their patience with people who
knew nothing about tiling. I also remember watching
Mr. and Mrs. Penn. I saw the looks on their faces,
sort of like kids in a candy store. They were glowing.
They weren’t saying a lot, but you could see
it in their faces. It started looking more like a house,
especially with the floor going down.”
From Issa Abboud, Member of Wal-Mart’s IT Department
in Bentonville, Arkansas
“The teachers were excellent to work with. They
gave us details on all the types of products – why
one type of thinset is better than another for certain
projects, why the grout was perfect for this house.
That made it easier to understand. They definitely
took their time with us. Lester took one person at
a time and showed them how to set tile, mix thinset,
cut the tiles on both the wet saw and the tile cutter.
They did a great job.”
From Faye Penn, new homeowner in Decatur, Arkansas:
“I’ve got arthritis all over my body, so
the duplexes made it difficult to get around, and I was
always afraid I’d fall with the carpet. My husband
has allergies to so many things – you can’t
keep the carpet clean enough for someone like that. They
say you should clean the carpet everyday to get rid of
the dust and I just can’t do that!”
From Donny Walton, Regional Sales Manager for Orchid
Ceramics:
“The people of northwest Arkansas were wonderful
to work with. Lester was a great installer who has the
patience of Job and I was totally impressed with him.
The Wal-Mart volunteers were very willing to jump right
in and do anything that was asked. I was glad to help
and plan to help again in the future when the opportunity
presents itself.” |
