Every spring and fall for the last 25 years, Gerard Van de Werken has spent a large part of his weekends building homes with Austin Habitat for Humanity.
At 76 years old, Van de Werken decided that in order to keep up with the physical demand of his volunteer work, he needed to be hitting the gym. That includes a personal trainer.
He's prepping himself for an upcoming "blitz build," where the philanthropic organization will build 25 houses in one week.
"I'm not worried about how to build a house, I think I know how to do that," Van de Werken told NPR. "Its just to make sure that I am strong enough to be out there leading the folks to help build this house."
It's safe to say that Van de Werken, a former architect, does in fact know how to build a house. He went into semi-retirement last spring after completing construction on his 50th home with the Austin Habitat for Humanity.
It all started with his first build, on 13th Street in Austin, where he was asked to be a site leader.
"At that time, I didn't really have a team, and so seven volunteers showed up and we formed a team. And for the last 25 years we have built 50 homes. The first one, I had no clue what I was doing and I still chuckle," he recalled.
"There was this guy ... and we were sheetrocking, and none of us had ever sheetrocked before. He had to cut that piece of sheetrock seven times [laughs]. We built community. We enjoyed each other. And we laughed at each other because we've made so many mistakes. But, you know, we built a beautiful home."
By his 10th house, Van de Werken said that the work had become understandable and the learning curve had become a bit easier.
"The one thing people understood about this team was if you came out to volunteer at our site and you're going to be willing to give up your Saturday or your time, you're going to actually do something. And if you want to learn something, we'll teach that, too."
He recalls another story of a young woman who wanted to learn how to use a ramp set device to set nails into concrete, but spoke of a boyfriend who wouldn't let her do any type of manual labor.
"She started around 9, and we couldn't take that instrument out of her hand for the rest of the day. She was having a blast," he said. "And I heard her on the phone. Not meaning to hear, but saying, 'Don't you ever tell me I can't do anything.' So my goal was, if you come out, I empower anybody to want to do anything."
Van de Werken said he earned himself the nickname of "the crier." In the dedications — or a celebration after the home is built — where he speaks, he shed tears.
"Because what most people don't realize is that I was an immigrant. I came to America many, many years ago. I was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. I'm basically Americanized," he added.
"But to come to America at that time, there was a helping hand to get us here. And so I was very appreciative of that extending hand. So, I was willing to give back. It just moves me to see that there are people in this world that understand that you can't get through life without a helping hand."
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