Dayton day 2

So Dayton is still a pretty cool place - really clean city, really bike friendly. like CRAZY bike friendly. also build today was cool - we were on local channel 2 news at 6 pm! and i learned how to hang drywall. apparently dayton's deal is that it used to be a big manufacturing city but everything has left recently - trying to reinvent itselve as creative/innovative (apparently it has always been...wright brothers' bike shop, combustion engine, some other stuff) and get new industry that way. also is taking advantage of the local 'Mad River' for tourism - river activities like boating, biking along the river, lotta bike paths, a competition-level mountain bike course, etc. dayton is 50-something percent white and 40-something percent black, and apparently race relations are not always the best - especially since a highway system has divided the city, whites tend to live on the west side and blacks on the east. in general, people who can afford to and aren't heartset on city life live in the suburbs. dayton is also working on urban planning and putting in better public transportation - light rail to nearby metro areas is a big possibility. in general, the city does have a pretty cool feel to it, it is definitely a place i would consider living. the 'US Bankruptcy Court' building is huge and looks really depressing though...

oh and interesting fact, Habitat for Humanity has a lot of stores that sell donated or hugely discounted goods at a good price to locals - usually overstock furniture, things like that (at least as far as I know). these stores are widely used in big urban areas. dayton's has recently started on its way to being successful, they now net 75k a year, but are hoping to expand their space to 30k sqft and bring in 250k a year to really underwrite their other programs.

also, volunteering with habitat is seriously fun and a great way to meet/spend time with people and really get a sense of accomplishment. today, the 30 of us reorganized a build site and moved a lot of materials, measured, cut, hung, and adjusted drywall ceilings and walls in about 3/5 of a house, did a bunch of work with roofing/flashing/siding, and cleaned the site when we were done, all in about six hours! once we're more used to working together in build sites and have more general construction skills, i'm sure we'll be a lot more efficient, but either way, going into a house with all bare framing and leaving it with rooms that had ceilings, walls, and a more finished roof was REALLY inspiring. take some time for your country, which is by the way awesome, and get involved in your local habitat today! even if you can't help build, you can donate or help out in their office or reStore. i definitely plan to keep voluteering with Habitat after this summer.