An Inside Look at the Carter Work Project Warehouse

Guest blog by Laura Oyen, Public Funding Coordinator at Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.

What does it take to get ready for a big, historic event like the Carter Work Project? Many folks doing many little things to make sure the production goes off without a hitch! This includes activities at our warehouse in Maplewood.

Dedicated volunteers put together every hard hat and utility knife. They removed packaging, assembled materials, and recycled plastic. When I visited the warehouse, we prepped safety glasses from sponsor Stoggles. The goggles come in fun colors, like lilac, cold brew, and sangria. My personal favorite is jade, though peach gives a nod to the official state fruit of Georgia, home of Habitat for Humanity International and Jimmy Carter.

To make distributing swag to our volunteers easier, we opened large boxes of glasses, removed plastic, and opened individual packages. Each pair comes with a microfiber bag, so we put everything back in the original box (minus the packaging). The team gathered the cardboard and plastic in other boxes for recycling. Occasionally, the process looked like an I Love Lucy skit when a volunteer would hop into the cardboard box and stomp so we could fit in more! Volunteers also created and reinforced additional sawhorses and temporary fences. Some folks pre-drilled holes, while others followed with longer screws to make sure the sawhorses were sturdy. Then, sawhorses and fences were loaded into a Habitat truck and delivered to The Heights.

The site toolboxes are one of the most amazing organizing elements. Volunteers built these boxes at the warehouse, filling each with tools and an internal shelf for additional supplies. Pallets of donated items turned into site-specific “Habitat Kits” that will provide site supervisors and volunteers everything needed for a productive build day.

Finally, one of the last “glimmers” of joy I saw during my visit was volunteers pre-sharpening construction pencils. Construction pencils are flat so they don’t roll about, which means they're harder to sharpen. All the prep work happening will make things run more efficiently on site. Little things like removing packaging and sharpening pencils will help save so much time on site. This prep also helps us recycle as much as possible to be responsible stewards.

This is just a glimpse of the thoughtful work Twin Cities Habitat volunteers and staff are putting into hosting the 2024 Carter Work Project! Thanks to their work and care, we'll be prepared for a successful, impactful week at The Heights.

Watch a Quick Tour of the Warehouse