Delta Air Lines

employees know a lot about teamwork and when they get together with the

Habitat for Humanity people, the end result is new homes and renewed neighborhoods.

Last Thursday,

on the second anniversary of the 9/11 disaster, Habitat representatives

and more than 50 Delta employees roused a Fairburn neighborhood bright

and early with the sound of hammers and saws to begin the process of erecting

four new homes.

An enthusiastic

crowd of men and women were having a great time pitching in and making

a difference in the lives of four people.

At 8:48 a.m.,

the clatter of construction ceased briefly and Rev. Charles Collier, a

Habitat homeowner led the group in a moment of silence and prayer. The

sounds of working hands rose again with new zeal while floors were laid

and walls were made ready.

Around 11 a.m.

a local gospel group, Remnant, sang "America the Beautiful"

and "God Bless America" which put everyone present in a celebratory

spirit.

Paul Graves,

Vice President of Corporate and Community Affairs for Delta spoke to the

crowd.

"Scarred

hands can heal," he said. "Along with all the hammers missing

and hitting a few fingers and knees being scraped, I'm sure there is some

scarring going on, but there's also some healing going on here today as

well. We have rebuilt communities. We have rebuilt lives. We've rebuilt

hope, faith and opportunity."

Fairburn Mayor

Betty Hannah was also on hand to lend moral support and voice her thanks

to everyone sacrificing their time and energy.

"Good

things happen when people get together deepening our ties and strengthening

our faith in one another."

The mayor also

talked about the significance of that day's events in light of 9/11.

"We're

stronger for that day because we paused and we thought about our neighbors,

who they were and we knew everyone stood strong and united and remembered

America is great." After the brief ceremony, the crews on each house

raised their first walls to lots of shouting and applauding.

Steve Scheeler,

Delta's Environmental Coordinator explained the building procedure.

"The house

leaders in yellow T-shirts are in charge of the crew leaders and the crew

leaders will take care of a team. We have a crew leader making sure we

have as many walls as we need at the right place according to plan. The

house leaders keep in tune with the crew leaders making sure that each

of the crews are not just building the same old place. And then once we

get everything together the house leaders bounce around helping all the

second crews make sure everything is on time."

One of the

four houses being built had the unique distinction of being the first

Habitat structure in Fulton County to be erected by an all woman crew.

Led by Gae

Green, a technology developer with Delta for almost 15 years, the female

team struck a blow for girl power.

"I grew

up helping my dad remodel houses, but I've never been a lead on one. So

this is a new experience for me." Green said.

When asked

if there was any competition with the men, she said, "I think you

saw a little ribbing going on here but they're just having fun. They are

a tremendous help. On a project like this everyone works together. We're

all working for the same cause. It's just phenomenal!"

Zondra Kurtz,

the owner of the house being built by the women's crew heard about Habitat

for Humanity through a friend and applied.

"I've

been on the waiting list for about two years and just discovered about

five weeks ago I was going to get a house."

Habitat owners

have to help build their house and put in 150 hours of community service

whether it's by helping others build their house or volunteering in their

community.

"I started

a couple of weeks ago on someone else's house to learn how to do this

so I could get my hours in. I built a porch and then we built my porch

the other day," Kurtz said.

It was clear

Zondra looked forward to completing her home.

"We're

going to be done on September 27. It will take nine days, Thursday, Friday

and Saturday for the next three weeks. It's pretty exiting. I couldn't

even sleep last night!"

A familiar

face to many last week was Mary Ann Mullis, the "Tool Lady."

In charge of keeping supplies flowing for the workers from a large trailer

transformed into a giant toolbox, Mullis has been involved with Habitat

since they raised their first house in the area in 1996. "I've worked

on every house Habitat has built in South Fulton except one. I'm 71 and

a little too old to get out there and swing a hammer, but I've done everything

else."

Mary Lynn's

husband, Wallace Mullis, who passed away in 1999 was also active in the

Habitat projects and got her involved.

"My husband

was very dedicated to Habitat for Humanity. When he died Habitat had the

city of Fairburn change two blocks of Washington Street up here to Mullis

Street."

Another pair

of homeowners, Mark and Taurina Godfrey only had to wait a year to find

themselves helping construct their own home. Taurina said she has helped

build Habitat houses on Dodd Street and also volunteered her time to senior

citizens and as a mentor to teens to fulfill her time quota.

Watching the

workers on her house as we talked, Taurina said she had already picked

out the colors for her house, light blue with black shutters. She was

especially happy to have her good friend Pete Moore, a retired aircraft

maintenance general manager for Delta on hand. Moore who also volunteered

for the Olympics in 1996 met Taurina on another Habitat site and they

became good friends.

Ella Screven

and Cassandra Lawrence were the other two recipients of new dwellings.

A dedication ceremony on October 18 at 11 a.m. is open to the general

public.