House made of ice to spotlight Habitat for Humanity’s mission [Duluth News Tribune, Minn.]

Dec. 31--Building a structure out of ice seemed like a good way to gain some publicity for the Western Lake Superior Habitat for Humanity. Everybody's doing it.

But director Daryl Yankee had one question: "How do you nail ice?"

Repairing homes is Habitat's forte, but with the winter lull

coming on, building a house out of ice in the courtyard at the Fitger's Brewery Complex fills the bill, Yankee said Friday. He and volunteers were cutting and stacking ice north of Duluth on Big Pequaywan Lake.

They will begin building Monday and will open to the public Wednesday. The house will be on display through Jan. 28.

Yankee and other Habitat board members took pitches this fall on ways to get into the consciousness of the community.

Publicity specialist Linda Nervick, who is a former spokeswoman for the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, now runs a Web site called Winter Fun 101. She suggested the ice structure.

"The ice thing is definitely the trend," she said of the handful of ice bars that have sprung up in the Northland. "They're fantastic, but where do you take the kids?"

Yankee and the others were intrigued and let Nervick fly.

She figured there would need to be some way to get ice, likely from harvesting it themselves. She'd heard how much it cost to make the ice bars at Little Angie's in Canal Park and up the North Shore. "We don't have that kind of budget," she said.

"We've got plenty of lakes and some strapping workers," she said of her resources.

She called ice cutters in Alaska and found out that taking blocks from a spring-fed lake yields the clearest ice. Pequaywan, part of the Cloquet River chain, is also fed by springs. Enter Nervick's friend, Jeff Somrock, whose family has had a cabin on the lake for 60 years.

Ice cutting is something new to Somrock, but his place is rare for a lake with steep banks: It has a flat landing next to the water.

The Habitat team gathered late in the morning and in a few hours they had enough ice to face their structure. The rest of the blocks will be donated by Carlson Refrigeration in Superior.

Nervick's enthusiasm found her in an antiques store buying an old-fashioned hand cutter. Unfortunately, it was duller than a butter knife. That's where the chain saw came in.

Yankee and volunteer Shane Sullivan carved a 2-foot wide swath in the ice. Julie Peterson and Ryan Kesselhon helped pick the bobbing squares onto a sled and to the wagon and truck bed for transport.

Yankee has a structure design in his head but things will go mostly on the fly once the ice is at Fitger's. Like most ice structures, safety comes first. It will have a canvas roof.

Yankee recalled with a laugh the reaction he received after he contacted the Habitat national office in Atlanta regarding insurance issues.

"It's going to be the easiest house we ever built," he said. "It'll be the strangest."

Yankee said building the ice house will be a nice diversion for the volunteers as they gear up to remodel two homes in the area next year. Habitat has focused its work on repairs for elderly and handicapped people in recent years. The cost of new construction has become too high, Yankee said, and many more people simply need to keep up the homes they have.

"The nature of our work is often quite serious," Yankee said. "It's good to do something unique and fun."

When Yankee took the director post two years ago, he was surprised to learn how little known Habitat was in the community.

"It was just kind of dark," he said.

Projects like the ice home are a way to put Habitat in the spotlight, he said, and for neighbors to gather and learn more about Habitat's mission.

"And it's a chance to keep building, one way or another."

Visibility is important, Yankee said, because the Western Lake Superior Habitat takes no money from state or national offices. It depends solely on local donations.

"Jimmy Carter doesn't write me a check every month," he said of the most famous backer of Habitat projects through the years.

Volunteers are also a need, Yankee said. Families that receive assistance are asked to pay the kindness forward by helping with other Habitat projects. That's why Kesselhon was there. Habitat helped winterize his family's home this year.

"This really is a local effort," Yankee said of the cycle of giving. "And it all stays local."

Just like the ice from Pequaywan Lake.

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(c)2011 the Duluth News Tribune (Duluth, Minn.)

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