By Maggie Beamguard
Insider Editor
For decades, springtime at West End Elementary school has been accompanied by the sound of hammers tapping cedar birdhouses together. Now in its 39th year, the tradition spread its wings further as the Kiwanis Club of Seven Lakes expanded its annual birdhouse build to include Robbins Elementary School.
Kiwanis volunteers helped 48 students at West End Elementary and 58 students at Robbins Elementary build birdhouses this May. Club members also prepared 12 extra kits as a backup to ensure every child had the opportunity to participate.
The longtime community project requires months of preparation before a single kindergartener gets to wield a hammer. According to Kiwanis member Bill Pratt, volunteers began planning in January and spent approximately four weekends cutting, drilling and sanding the pieces for the kits.
Each kit contains six pieces of cedar and 14 nails. Volunteers also designed templates showing students how to assemble the houses. In total, Kiwanis members spent roughly 36 man hours preparing the materials.
This year’s expansion to Robbins Elementary added an additional layer of planning and organization, but community support helped make the larger project possible.
Pratt said previous builds cost approximately $12 per birdhouse. This year, donations and volunteer support reduced the cost to less than $6 per house.
The savings were made possible through a gift from the John “Jack” Feter family, the use of Matt Holloway’s workshop and lumber mill connections, donations from Kiwanis members and donated nails from Burney Hardware.
The birdhouse build has been a tradition at West End Elementary School for more than 30 years. Generations of students have had the opportunity to build something with their own hands. And generations of blue birds have flown the coops.
Now more Moore County students have joined the flock of those participating in the longstanding tradition.
The Kiwanis Club of Seven Lakes is a volunteer service organization focused on supporting the children of Moore County through local projects and outreach efforts.
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.com.
