WAIKOLOA — Tony Vidana got his start building houses for the poor and needy in a way many might not expect: smuggling lumber across the U.S.-Mexico border. ADVERTISING WAIKOLOA — Tony Vidana got his start building houses for the poor
WAIKOLOA — Tony Vidana got his start building houses for the poor and needy in a way many might not expect: smuggling lumber across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Vidana, now the construction manager for Habitat for Humanity West Hawaii, got into construction early — around the age of 15 — growing up in San Diego. Three or four years later, he said, he met a pastor, the brother of a girl he was dating at the time.
The Mexican government had relocated poor families away from the border to “deplorable conditions” but in order to get lumber into the country, federales at the border would often charge a mordida, or a bribe. So the pastor, Vidana said, hatched a plan to get around that.
It was straightforward enough: Load up the pastor’s van with plywood and use the vehicle’s air shocks to make it look like a bed.
“We used to go surfing down there anyway all the time, so to us going across the border was no big deal,” Vidana said, now 55. “But smuggling lumber across, that was an adventure.”
“And for what? For a good cause,” he added. “It’s not like we were doing something wrong; we were just not paying the bribes.”
Once over the border, they’d build small 8-by-8 casitas wrapped with roofing paper to give families a place to live.
“I got hooked,” he said. “I wanted to do more stuff like that.”
It also taught him something about himself.
“I realized that a person like me can help others,” he said. “That’s it. A person like me that’s not a pastor, at the time I wasn’t even a churchgoer.”
That’s a point Vidana wants to get across as Habitat for Humanity West Hawaii works to recruit volunteers for its Blitz Build, an ambitious project to build 10 homes in 10 days this September.
“Some people have never been asked to do something good,” Vidana said. “And they don’t know that they can do it until they’ve been asked or until they realize that there’s an opportunity like Habitat for Humanity.”
Vidana moved to Hawaii in 1990, finding out about Habitat for Humanity a few years later.
As a contractor, he said, he wanted an opportunity to give back to the community that he was working in while keeping in mind his past experience in Mexico.
“I would always have remembered that experience of helping people in Mexico,” he said. “So this is that ‘aha’ moment, like, ‘Wow, this is how I can do that again.’”
Eventually, he became volunteer president of the Hilo Habitat for Humanity before coming over with a group of about 15 to start what is today Habitat for Humanity West Hawaii. Fifteen years later, he’s now working for the West Hawaii organization.
From Sept. 13-22, the group will build 10 homes in Kealakehe, to be ready for move-in the next day. To do that, the group needs volunteers.
“If they just come with the attitude and the heart of ‘I’m here to serve,’ that’s all we need,” said Kaleo Perreira, project manager for the Blitz Build. “And we’ll have a place and we’ll have something for them to do.”
And the organization isn’t just looking for those who can swing a hammer or paint.
“We need people to build sandwiches,” Vidana said. “We need volunteer help to do all kinds of stuff.”
Perreira said unskilled helpers are crucial to the organization’s efforts, saying that they’ll welcome anyone who’s willing to lend their hands and time.
Perreira has been volunteering with the organization since 2008 and took part in the 2012 Blitz Build, when volunteers built five houses in 10 days.
That, he said, was a great experience.
“It’s really to help change people’s lives,” he said. “There was a great support of local (volunteers) and people who came from abroad.”
Clyde Nakashima, 66, has been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity for about 10 years now and was part of the first Blitz Build in 2012.
When he worked for the county, Nakashima used to be in charge of maintaining North and South Kona beach parks and facilities. Now retired, he’s still putting those skills to good use giving families in need an opportunity to have a place of their own.
“I always wanted to help out,” he said Friday. “People should have decent homes to live in.”
In his 10 years of volunteering, Nakashima said he’s been involved with pretty much every part of building a house, estimating that he’s helped build about 20 houses in his time.
“It makes me very proud to be helping these families out,” he said. “I can see in their faces that they’re very appreciative.”
Perreira said there are already an expected 175 people from outside of Hawaii who have confirmed plans to take part in the build.
“They come to serve our community for two weeks,” he said. “I think that’s just inspiring to see people will come out and do that.”
And even with a goal of doubling the number of homes in the same time period, Perreira’s ready to take on the challenge.
“I think the last one was a success,” he said, “and this time will be an even bigger success.”
Info: www.habitatwesthawaii.org.
