LANETT — The Chattahoochee Fuller Center Project (CFCP) had a busy but productive July in the Beauregard community.

Two new homes were built with the families moving in and a host of walls were assembled for several homes to be constructed by mid October.  The CFCP will be coordinating the construction of a new home starting Aug. 16 and ending with a home dedication on Aug. 30.

The Columbus First Baptist Church will sponsor the two-week project. The home is being built for the Baker family, who lost their mobile home in March tornado.

“We are building back on property they own,” said CFCP Executive Director Kim Roberts said. “A mother and her two daughters will be living there.”

The two homes dedicated on July 13 are the fourth and fifth homes built this year in Beauregard by the CFCP, Lee County contractors and lots of volunteers.

“One of the homes is for Bill and Tonya Yarbrough,” Roberts said. “They live on Lee Road 721 and have a five-year-old son named Oscar. We built back where they’d lost their home.”

The second home went up on Highway 51 and replaces a mobile home that was destroyed by the tornado. Barbara Rowan and her 17-year-old daughter Olivia are living there.

“We were able to build on property owned by Barbara’s mother,” said Roberts. “It’s not far away from where their mobile home was. It was a wonderful experience working with the Church of the Highlands on this. They are such good people and are so well organized.

Eric Ward was the house captain for the Rowan build and Daniel Holland for the Yarbrough build. Daniel attends the Church of the Highlands.

He had the project managers from his business, Holland Homes, and volunteers from the church.”

Roberts and her assistant, Robin Pierre, recently spent four days with members of Parkway Baptist Church in Auburn.

“We built three sets of walls and painting enough siding for two homes,” Roberts said. “We started on July 21 and finished on July 24. Pastor Jeff Redmond and members of his congregation loved working on this project.”

On Saturday, July 27 two more sets of walls were assembled by the Rev. Joe Davis and members of the Auburn First United Methodist Church and the Rev. Mike Wright and members of the Gateway Family Church in Auburn.

Earlier in the month, members of the Church of the Highlands built a set of walls at the Auburn Dream Center as part of their Serve Day.

“We have walls everywhere now,” said Roberts, noting that Auburn and Alabama students had built two sets several weeks back, and WRBL had two sets built around the same time.

In the near future, Builders First Source will be putting together three sets of walls in their parking lot.

All these walls are needed for the Millard Fuller Legacy Build, which will be taking place in Beauregard, starting on Monday, Sept. 30 and continuing through Friday, Oct. 4.

An estimated 300 people will be in the Beauregard area that week building these homes.

The big week kicks off at 7:30 p.m. CDT on Sunday evening, Sept. 29 with a big dinner at Providence Baptist Church in Beauregard.

“With all our local volunteers and the out-of-town people who will be coming in, we are looking at somewhere between 250 and 300 people,” Roberts said.

High Socks of Tuscaloosa is making a major contribution to the massive build.

They will be providing all the needed furnishings for the bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens.

“We are so appreciative of this,” Roberts said. “It will be arriving in boxes, and we will have to assemble it.”

The Churches of Christ in Lee County have come together to provide the refrigerators, stoves and washers and dryers needed for the Legacy Build.

There will be two home dedication days to mark the conclusion of the project.

The first one will be on Friday, Oct. 4 and will spotlight the work done by all the out-of-town people.

A larger dedication will take place on the following Friday.

Most of the new homes will be dedicated at that time.

“The people of Beauregard, Opelika and Auburn have opened their arms to us in a generous way,” Roberts said. “Robin and I have been working seven days a week on this. It’s been hard, but it has been so rewarding. The people of the East Alabama Medical Center have been great to work with. Chaplain Laura Eason has been with us every step of the way.”

CFCP President Curt Johnson said the local organization has taken on a task this year that dwarfs what the CFCP has done in the past.

“We’ve been building houses since 2007,” he said. “In that span we have built six houses in one year twice and four new homes last year. We are building 18 this year. That’s three times what we have ever done in a single year. If you add any three years together, the most we have built is 16.”

Roberts said that Fuller Center International in Americus, Georgia, has been so supportive of the project.

“David Snell, the president, is very excited about what we are going to do this year,” he said.

The Church of the Highlands will help out in a big way as well.

“They are going to be setting up command posts for us,” Roberts said. “They will have ham radio operators and first aid stations at each work site. This will be amazing. Each site will have instant communication.”

This helps the CFCP overcome something they haven’t dealt with in their previous builds.

“We have logistical problems we haven’t had in our previous projects,” Johnson said. “If we have to go to town and get some nails, it’s an hour-and-a-half to get there, find what we need, load up and get back. We don’t need to be doing a lot of back and forth trips. We need to plan carefully to avoid this.”

Roberts said that lots of blood, sweat and tears goes into building a new home.

“It’s worth it all on dedication day,” she said. “Everyone is so happy.

There are tears of joy and lots of smiles all around.”

The Hallmark Channel will be building three of the new homes.

They will be getting a helping hand from Junior Ambassadors from the Greater Valley Area Chamber of Commerce.

“We want to thank West Point Coca-Cola for what they will be doing,” Roberts said. “Their employees and their management team will be there, and they will be supplying us with all the drinks we need. Knauf will be providing the insulation and Norbord the OSB.”