Volunteer of the week:

Dick McCreedy, of Niles

A retired OB/GYN doctor, Dick McCreedy has been a volunteer with the Niles-Buchanan Habitat for Humanity since it was established in the late 1980s. He acted as the organization’s construction leader from 2003-12. He also keeps the scorebook at Niles High School boys basketball games.

 

Q: What do you do for Niles-Buchanan Habitat for Humanity?

I volunteered on the first house we rehabbed and it was around 1988, although I’m not 100 percent on that. The first one (home) was on Maple Street in Niles.

I did it every year expect when I missed a couple houses in the mid 90s when I was president of Babe Ruth baseball and practicing medicine — my time was limited.

In 2003, I was asked to be the construction leader and since then we’ve built eight new houses and rehabbed one.

 

Q: What does a construction leader do?

There are several things. The number one thing is to recruit volunteers. Some of the affiliates have paid staff, like executive directors, that do that, but we don’t. Years ago we had a volunteer coordinator, but that dropped by the wayside, so that evolved into the construction leader doing the share of the recruiting. That means all my friends and my church buddies get asked.

Another big aspect is making a construction plan of what comes first and the order of things. The other thing is having the materials there on site and the appropriate tools to build with.

 

Q: Where’d you learn construction?

When I was in the eighth grade my family decided to build a house. We could not afford to pay someone to build it so we built it ourselves with the help of friends and family and a couple of carpenters we hired. That was a start.

When I went to high school I took a couple years of woodshop and had an excellent teacher and then I just have always been interest in building things with wood and repairing things around my own house. In 2003, after I agreed to take on the construction leadership position, I attended a class at Lake Michigan College. A few months after that, I took the test to get a contractors license. Since you only had to get 50 percent correct, it wasn’t real hard.

 

Q: Do you have a home or family you’ll remember most?

That would be the first one I led the construction of — the Kirkendoll family. It’s kiddy-corner by the post office on Broadway. Their son, Rodney, Jr., worked with us a lot. He was a teenager at that time and was really interested in working and learning. The neat thing about that family is they are still there and do such a nice job of keeping their home very neat and kept up and the appearance is always top notch. It is always a pleasure to drive by there and know that is one of the houses we built with them.

 

Q: What do you enjoy most about working with Habitat?

It is fun to organize everything. Getting the basement done and the walls built and figuring out how everything fits together and who does what and when. It is a challenge, but you get to meet a lot of good people.

 

Q: What else do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

This is my 11th year taking the scorebook for the Niles High School boys basketball team. I do the home and road games and go to practice when I can. I get to ride on the bus with the kids. I try to keep myself young hanging around with the young kids. I am a long time basketball fan and so I get a chance to go to all of the games, which I would probably be at anyways.