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Annette Fagello of York Township and Portia Phillips of Camp Hill hang drywall inside one of the four homes recently renovated by Hatibat for Humanity's National Women Build Week activities on Wednesday. (John Pavoncello Photo)
Forget the presidential election, York County Republicans and Democrats have found a different way to hammer out their differences.

They are going to build a house.

York Habitat for Humanity is bringing the political foes together for some bi-partisan building in York City this summer.

Local Republicans and Democrats will work together to renovate a home at 251 E. Prospect St. for a York Habitat for Humanity project dubbed the Unity Build, said the nonprofit's executive director Fran Spero.

So far, party representatives have been working together "graciously" to plan the project, Spero said.

But no one has been talking about the presidential race.

"We don't go there," Spero said.

York County Republican Party Chairman Peck Foster said the Unity Build will provide some relief to the mudslinging and negative campaigning voters are getting tired of on the national level.

Locally, Foster said the Republicans and the Democrats "basically get along."

But on the job site for Habitat for Humanity, Foster said he does expect a little give-and-take between the GOP and the Democrats.

"I'm sure there will be some good-natured joking," Foster said.

Mike Johnson, chairman of the York County Democratic Party, said he and Foster want the Unity Build to be less about the differences in the parties and more about the work being done by Habitat for Humanity.

"It's not like we're going to be keeping score (of) who is hammering more nails," Johnson said.

Spero

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said the house the Democrats and Republicans will be renovating is a three-
bedroom home and will be the fifth house on the block renovated as part of the YWCA's Community Renaissance Project in the city's Olde Towne East neighborhood.

Spero said York Habitat for Humanity needs to raise $70,000 to renovate the house and will need hundreds of volunteers. The fundraising effort will take place during the summer, and the project will begin in August, Spero said.

The Unity Build is the first of its kind in the country, and Spero said Habitat for Humanity is hoping the idea catches on around the country.

Johnson said if every congressional district undertook a similar project, 435 Habitat for Humanity homes could be built throughout the country.

But when the construction is done, the parties will still need to decide if they want to use blue or red paint.

"Maybe purple," Johnson said.

-- Reach Brock Parker at 505-5434 or bparker@yorkdispatch.com.