Meet the Retirees Who Spend Every Wednesday Building Habitat Homes and Changing Lives
The Wednesday Crew proves retirement can be a time to build homes, friendships and lasting hope
Key Takeaways
- The 'Wednesday Crew' of senior volunteers builds affordable Habitat for Humanity homes weekly.
- 87-year-old Gene Speckhals is closing in on his 100th home build with Habitat St. Charles.
- Volunteers find physical fitness, purpose, and deep camaraderie through community service.
Some seniors spend retirement traveling, enjoying family or developing new hobbies. But members of the Wednesday Crew in St. Charles, Missouri, choose to spend their golden years in service, building homes and making family dreams come true. Here, they share their story with Woman’s World.
Every weekend in St. Charles, Missouri, the pounding of hammers and screech of power saws fill the air as volunteers gather to build homes for their low-income neighbors with the local Habitat for Humanity. Some of the volunteers come every other weekend or once a month. But there’s one group that the Habitat Construction Manager Tony Bradbury counts on every week.
Retire for a cause
They call themselves the Wednesday Crew, and they all share one thing in common: Every one of them could be enjoying a quiet, relaxing retirement. Instead, these willing souls show up Wednesday after Wednesday, ready to work and get the job done.
Gene Speckhals, 87, has been showing up since 1998, when the local Rotary Club founded Habitat St. Charles. The retired Boeing tool-and-die maker is now a senior member of the Wednesday Crew. He’s had a hand in every house they’ve built, and he doesn’t plan to stop. Every Wednesday, he’s there hauling lumber, setting roof trusses and positioning ceiling wallboard.
His passion for the Wednesday projects is infectious and inspires others, like Bob Ryan, 69, who says working on Habitat homes has opened up a whole new world for him.
“I’ve always done furniture and cabinetmaking in my basement workshop, but now I get to learn carpentry, and there’s a world of difference,” he observes. His heart is full each week when Wednesday rolls around.
Bob’s favorite carpentry skill is framing a new house.
“It’s very meditative. It gives me a chance to think, and I get to see the results of my work almost immediately,” the former UPS driver explains. “I love the camaraderie,” he says, adding with a laugh, “It also gets me out of the house, and my wife really likes that.”
The same goes for Rick Fowler, who was the owner of a local lawn service when he first volunteered with Habitat St. Charles.
“I was asked if my crew would lay sod on a new build,” he recalls. “It was on a Wednesday, and the guys looked like they were having a lot of fun together,” Rick told Tony that if he ever retired, he’d be back to join up, and a few years later, he kept his promise.
A Wednesday mission
Habitat often uses professional trade workers for specialized work, and it gets help from recipients, too. Habitat applicants must invest 350 hours of “sweat equity” in their reduced-price, zero-interest mortgage homes. Many of the recipients work at the group’s ReStore thrift shop, which helps fund the homes. Others, like a local barber with six children, work shoulder to shoulder with the volunteers building their future home.
For the Wednesday Crew, nothing compares to attending a home dedication and seeing the joy of a family’s dream of homeownership come true.
“There are too many people who simply can’t afford homes these days,” Bob says. “Seeing a family get their keys and step inside is what it’s all about.”
When the final home in the current project is complete, Gene will have built his 100th home. At a recent fundraiser, he was presented with a silver hammer award to honor his contributions.
“Building houses keeps me fit,” he says. “So long as there’s work, I’ll be there.”
Rick nods in agreement. “Service over self — that’s what it’s all about.”
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