Like many couples, Shane Bevel and his new wife, Frances, decided to go to the beach for their honeymoon. Unlike many couples, they didn’t go to work on their tans, but to work on houses for families in need. One week after their wedding, they joined other volunteers at The Fuller Center for Housing Blitz Build in El Salvador. “We didn’t have anything else planned and we felt like this was meant to be. We enjoy doing things like this – why not on our honeymoon?” Frances says. “We don’t like to relax. We like to do things outdoors. We’re working on our own house and now it’s fun to help someone else.”
Shane is a photographer with the Tulsa World and Frances is special events manager for the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. Shane also helped with the two previous Fuller Center blitz builds in Shreveport, La., when he worked for the newspaper there.
“I recently bought my first home and a lot of people have probably worked harder than me and still don’t have a home. I don’t think that’s fair,” Shane says. “Everyone should have a clean, safe place to live. And I wanted to use my talents to help make that happen.”
While Frances helped raise walls on one of the houses, Shane took photos of the construction and also took panoramic photos inside a few of the existing homes. Those photos, which can be seen on his Web site, give the viewer the ability to move the camera and see each corner of the room.
“It was really eye-opening to see the current homes. Seeing the dirt floor and rusted tin roof really brings to life the change this will bring,” he says.
Some family and friends questioned the idea of a blitz-build honeymoon, but Shane and Frances say they have no regrets. “This is us,” he says. “In fact, the only other trip we have even talked about is another Fuller Center trip. “This is a way to show appreciation for what we have, and the new life we are starting out on, by helping someone else start a new chapter in their life.”
