My name is Gary Baxter and I am Habitat!
“I tell volunteers all the time about the nearly immediate impacts Habitat has on the families, neighborhoods and the larger community. These impacts don’t take generations to achieve – the family benefits today…“
– Gary Baxter, graduated from Cornerstone College in 2014.
Q. What career or profession were you involved in before joining Habitat as a Cornerstone Leader on our construction sites?
A. I started with General Dynamics in 1979 and worked my way up in engineering to a program management slot as a chief engineer. At the end of my career, I had 40 engineers developing maintenance equipment for the F-35 program.
Q. What initially drew you to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and how did you first get involved with Trinity Habitat for Humanity?
A. My deputy at the time arranged a work day in the Mosier Valley neighborhood for our group, and immediately, I developed a really severe case of Habititus. I have always had a keen interest in building construction from an early age and I found building for a better life to be a compelling experience.
Q. How have the skills or experiences from your previous career or profession translated into your work on the Habitat for Humanity construction site?
A. My father had some rudimentary construction skills, owned his own business and I was always helping him modify and add on to his building over time so I learned some basic skills from him. Also, my parents had a new house built when I was in fourth grade, and I was fascinated by the process.
As an adult, I built (literally) on those skills with more advanced projects, much of it furniture that required preciseness which appealed greatly to me. Also, the methods of engineering whereby you take a project and decompose it into basic steps lend themselves very well to building a house in a volunteer-friendly way.
Q. What is a memorable experience or project from your time with Trinity Habitat for Humanity that reaffirmed your passion for the work?
A. The most satisfying experience came with a house I was Project Manager for on Myrtle St in the Hillside-Morningside neighborhood. The homeowner, a nursing care professional, worked the third shift and she would come by after work to put in her sweat equity hours. She was always dead tired, but excited and determined to succeed. She achieved her sweat equity hours before we had completed the house, so we did not see her for a couple of weeks. By this time, we were finishing up the trim and siding when she came by one day. I was working on the back of the house when someone told me she was inside and so I went to see her. She had her kids with her and was taking pictures of the almost-finished interior. When I came in and called out her name, she turned around and immediately burst out crying. I still get a little teary every time I tell that story because it for me it underscores the importance of what we do.
Q. What aspects of Habitat for Humanity’s mission stand out to you?
A. I tell volunteers all the time about the nearly immediate impacts Habitat has on families, neighborhoods, and the larger community. These impacts don’t take generations to achieve – The family benefits today because the work we do sets them up for success by building a foundation for better living, the neighborhoods benefit because we bring energy in along with the new homeowners, and the community benefits because those new owners are contributing directly into the tax base. In addition, the fact that we carefully qualify the families and then train them to be successful homeowners speaks directly to the unique way in which Habitat operates.