Here we grow again:  Staff duplex gets fast start

Late April: A plan fell through that would expand student enrollment by using a dormitory in a neighboring community. However, based on the anticipation of having more space, Oakdale had already enrolled additional students for the 2005-06 school year. The Lord had clearly led and prepared Oakdale for an expanded ministry. This was confirmed as the staff and board quickly came to consensus on a new plan to meet the need for more space. A staff duplex would be built, thereby allowing space currently being used for staff housing to become student housing.

Late May: The board of trustees approved a plan to build on the east end of campus, relying on work teams to provide the labor. The architect of the classroom and gymnasium building donated time to design this duplex. Plans were ready for implementation.

June 6: A call was placed to Oakdale alumna Vondrea Fansler of Basye, Virginia, owner of Blue Ridge Truss Company, to ask for help in providing materials for the duplex. The first work team was to arrive on July 4 to begin construction. Even though the time was short, Mrs. Fansler made special arrangements with her production managers to move this project to the front of their schedules. She commited to having the interior and exterior wall panels and the roof trusses delivered on July 1.

Late June: The site prep work was begun June 22, and completed within three days. On June 28 our maintenance personnel, with the help of Charlie Hayward of Clarkston, Michigan, and workers from the Ypsilanti, Michigan, work team, framed and poured footers. On June 30, block masons set the foundation. (Funds to pay masons were donated by a friend who took a special interest in this project.) On Friday, July 1, the Blue Ridge Truss Company trucks arrived with the materials for framing the building.

July: The following Monday, a work team from Galion, Ohio, which included professional home builders and other very hard workers, began assembling the wall panels and trusses. By the time they left at the end of that week, the entire building was framed and ready for a roof. The next week a work team from Albion, Illinois, put sheeting on the roof trusses. A team from Oxford, Michigan, did electrical work and completed setting the interior wall panels. At the end of the month, members of the Galion work team returned to shingle the roof.

August: A work team of six from the Bedford, Indiana, Free Methodist Church, installed windows and siding the first week of August. Their long hours and commitment to getting the job done, a trait shared by so many work teams this summer, was an encouragement to everyone at Oakdale.