Transport Workers Help Build Habitat House

The Transport Workers Union has been fixing planes in Tulsa for years. They're a huge part of the local economy. But they showed they can be pretty good at building houses too. <br/><br/>News on

Wednesday, January 3rd 2007, 10:17 am

By: News On 6

The Transport Workers Union has been fixing planes in Tulsa for years. They're a huge part of the local economy. But they showed they can be pretty good at building houses too.

News on 6 business reporter Steve Berg says the Transport Workers aren't branching out into another line of work. This one was a gift. And it made for a special Christmas for a single mom and her boys.

For Tandi McAnally, it's a new year with a new house, and new outlook. "I had nothing to show, except for my kids, for what I had done in the last 20 years of my life. And I figured owning a home would be the best thing that I could do that would be rewarding for me as well as my kids."

As for the Transport Workers, Kevin Hammack says they were looking for a new way to contribute to the community. "We try to stay hooked up by sponsoring sports teams and blood drives and the Red Cross and different things, but Habitat just providing a different opportunity for us."

The union members raised $40,000 and did the majority of the construction themselves, and as Hammack points out, they managed to build it without any wings or rivets. But they didn't stop there. They donated furniture and buying presents. "We had a membership meeting. We passed the hat. We collected what we collected and we went out and got the boys Christmas, and we gave Tandi some money to get herself started."

They also worked overtime on the construction to get Tandi and her sons into the house the day before Christmas. "It was a 12-week schedule. We did it in 8, even with a couple of bad weather days, so we did pretty good."

Tandi McAnally: "Oh gosh, it was so awesome. It was so cool. My kids. That my kids were able to be in their new home for Christmas, as well as have a good Christmas."