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Small part of heart is left at each house

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published December 11, 2007

Al Couture gathers plumbing parts where two homes are being built by West Pasco Habitat in Port Richey.
	[Mike Pease | Times]

Building a Habitat for Humanity house is an act of faith.

The affordable housing group looks for cheap land, finds an eligible family and then hopes enough skilled volunteers will show up to build a three- or four-bedroom house for under $100,000.

For more than a decade, West Pasco Habitat for Humanity has relied on the tireless leadership of its 76-year-old president, Al Couture.

Three mornings a week, the former Navy sailor heads for Sam's Club by 6:30 to pick up water and food supplies for the volunteers. The next stop is Home Depot to buy construction supplies for the day. By the time he arrives at the home site around 7:30 a.m., several of his trusted volunteers, especially the retirees, are already there.

This week, they are working on two homes off Moon Lake Road. Couture pronounced Coo-Sher works at the site until around 2:30 p.m. before he heads off in his black Ford pickup on other errands. It's usually nightfall before he heads home to finish paperwork before collapsing in his lounge chair. "I don't know where he gets the energy," said Dick Ford, 70, who is working at the Moon Lake site.

Couture will still hang trusses and pound nails, but he believes it's time for a fresh face and new ideas in the front office. Tonight fellow board members will select a new president. It will be a tough act to follow.

The board members considered that when they hired Jeanie Almo, 47, as construction manager 18 months ago. Her assignment: write down or memorize everything Couture knows.

"When you realize all the knowledge he has with him," said Almo, "there's no job he can't do."

Chalk it up to experience. Couture served four years in the Navy. He did maintenance in a textile factory before spending 21 years as a pipe fitter in the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where he worked on nuclear submarines.

In 1993, the year he and his wife, Carol, moved to Florida, he joined West Pasco Habitat and led the group's breakaway from its association with North Pinellas. During those early years, volunteers and donations were equally scarce. The group first had to learn how to build houses and raise money.

Couture did everything. He laid foundation, met with donors and recruited volunteers. Now with paid staffers and dozens of volunteers to help carry the load, the group's future looks solid.

Amid a housing slump, West Pasco Habitat rides a building boomlet. The organization expects to finish four houses within the current fiscal year. And empty lots await even more houses for first-time home buyers. Each time they break ground, Couture will be there.

"He doesn't like doing nothing," said Carol, his wife of 19 years. "He puts his heart and soul into it."

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at askerritt@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602.

[Last modified December 10, 2007, 19:57:54]