It happened in Manhattan one summer in the late 80s, when I was Project Director with Habitat for Humanity in Jersey City.
Details to come in the February 2027 issue, so stay tuned (and subscribe for free).
In the logo for my business card, the Statue of Liberty held a hammer, in readiness to build shelter. Our motto was We Stand Behind the Lady, and indeed the project was in the Greenville neighborhood, literally a mile or so behind the Mother of Exiles, holding high her torch as she gazed out towards the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
I still have architectural drawings – Diazo prints faded by the decades – of the 5-story, 34-unit renovation of the long-abandoned building in what was then a dilapidated neighborhood.
And yes, I did get arrested in Memphis a year later. But that’s another story.