BY MAGGIE BEAMGUARD, Insider Editor
The birds of Moore County nearly went homeless for a third year in a row.
For over three decades, the kindergarteners of West End Elementary School, under the guidance of the Seven Lakes Kiwanis Club, provided shelter for the avian population. With COVID-19 restrictions relaxed in schools, Kiwanians planned to restart the annual birdhouse build following a two-year hiatus.
But then a new problem emerged: there was no wood to be found. White cedar, preferred for the project because of its light weight and soft density, was unavailable. Pandemic supply chain issues had come to roost.
Determined that neither kindergarteners nor birds would be let down once again, Bill Pratt, the lumber purchaser, located red cedar from a supplier in Sanford. This material supplemented the white cedar the club already had in storage and the work commenced on Tuesday, April 19.
If the red cedar was heavier and harder to handle than the white, the kindergarteners did not seem to notice. With hammers in hand, and tongues tucked between teeth, the children gleefully let loose on the nails. The pounding reverberated across the campus as the students built their birdhouses.
Ted Fitzgerald/The Pilot
Many Kiwanis members were on hand to help with the event. Each student received a kit prepared by Matt Tuttle, Bud Sales and George Norman, who cut, drilled and helped assemble the six pieces of pre-cut lengths of cedar with 14 pre-drilled holes to give the kindergarteners a head start.
One of the Kiwanis members helping out was Carrie Barber, branch manager at the Seven Lakes First Bank. She remembers building her own birdhouse with Kiwanis when she was a student at West End Elementary School. She believes her birdhouse still hangs on a tree in the home her parents built on Firetree Lane in Seven Lakes North in 1979. While her own children missed out on the build due to COVID, she was able to secure some kits for them to do at home.
Barber says the birdhouse project is “a chance for kids to be able to put something together with their own hands.
“A lot of the kids have never held a hammer. They’re building something themselves that they get to take home and watch year after year. It’s something really fun. Our birdhouses already have bluebirds in them this year.”
A new generation of students and a new generation of birds have been inducted into this long standing tradition.
“I bet if you look back at how many years they have been doing this,” Barber said, “and how many birdhouses were made, and how many children got to build one and how many birds had housing to raise their families in — it would probably just be astronomical.”
Kiwanis has worked with 70-100 children each year for over 30 years. This year, 79 children participated, and all 158 little thumbs remained intact at the end of the build. Seventy-nine birdhouses will welcome new broods; and thanks to the resolve of the Kiwanis club members to keep this tradition going, a bird housing crisis was avoided.
The Kiwanis Club of Seven Lakes is a volunteer organization for those who want to serve the community and its children. If you would like more information or would like to join this group, contact Bill Platt at billoplatt@gmail,com or visit the website: https://www.kiwanisclubofsevenlakes.org/.
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.com.
