As stated in our Alumni Chapter By-Laws, community service is an ongoing chapter responsibility in order to provide members an opportunity to assist in community projects.  We have helped the Dayton Habitat for Humanity organization many times in the past, and we were back there again this year.  Energetic John Glaser volunteered to head up this year's project and recruited five other folks to help out — his wife Joan, Jim Aldrich, Deej, Bob Gehman, and Mike Zollars.

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The time?  9:00am. The date?  October 27, 2007.  The place?  The Habitat for Humanity ReStore, at 1041 South Patterson Boulevard, Dayton.

Fortified by doughnuts and coffee provided by honcho John, the crew is ready to dive into action.  Left to right are Deej,  John, Joan, Mike, Jim, and (behind the camera) Bob.

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We weren't exactly sure how to decipher this Wish List big board, but it certainly seemed to reflect a high level of activity at the ReStore.

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Here's Joan Glaser, comfortably ensconced at "the desk."  She proved to be very capable as the check-out lady, but learned quickly the activity level here waxed and waned.

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Larry Stein, ReStore's master Inventory Transporter and Retail Specialist, seems like he might be a tough taskmaster as he orients Deej, John, Jim, and Mike on their job assignments.  In reality, he is a cheerful, dedicated, and knowledgeable gentleman who was very appreciative of our efforts.

One of our first tasks was to pick up and carry about a million board-feet of wood quarter-round, slats, and face board from a temporary service structure to (more or less) permanent storage inside the ReStore.  Here we see Jim Aldrich emerging from the depths of the service structure with his piecemeal load of quarter-round and headed for open air.

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From the grimace on his face, normally good-natured Bob Gehman seems vexed by the challenge of keeping dissimilar pieces of wood from falling out of his hands. Bob's pained expression notwithstanding, we think its always nice to see a man happy in his work.

Mike Zollars and Jim Aldrich take stock of shelving materials entrusted to their care.  Their task, a daunting one, is to assemble several sets of shelves and then transport them to designated locations. The rest of us were glad "we" weren't assigned to this job!

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Almost as daunting as shelf assembly is hanging lamp assembly.  Here we see Deej studying the intricacies of mating a thingamajig to a whatchamacallit, while Jim ponders the esthetics of hanging the lamp "here," or over "there."

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With the hanging lamp assembly task completed, Deej takes the high road to fasten the lamp in place.  An ardent student of feng-shui, she adroitly placed the lamp so it would achieve balance and harmony with the total environment. Larry steadies the ladder, beaming over his newly feng-shuied showroom.

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A young man of multiple skills, Mike Zollars carefully "bends" one of the mini-lights on this chandelier to, as he said, "make it fit."  Note Mike's self-satisfied expression reflecting pride in his workmanship.

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It's close to quitting time, and you can almost see the awesome weight of responsibility lifting off the shoulders of John and Larry.  Do you suppose they raised a toast, using whatever liquid is in that white jug, to an early return visit by the Dayton Chapter Volunteers?  We'd like to think so.