It began in March, and for the most part, it’s nearly finished.

In about a month, volunteers—sometimes more than 300 at a time—built a Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall and a residence on Dixie Drive, the Highway 34 Bypass.

“The first of the month, there wasn’t any buildings here. It was just a field. You can imagine what the neighbors think,” says John Cannon, coordinator for the body of elders for the North Newberry congregation, while laughing, “especially if they were on vacation—’That house wasn’t here!’”

Their former Jehovah’s Witnesses site was between Newberry and Whitmire north on S.C. Highway 121. That 1974 Kingdom Hall was a more residential-style structure, as opposed to the new commercial-style building.

“It needed renovation so many times,” says Cannon. “It required so many repairs.”

But the new one, he says, is “built to last.”

Plus, the new site is closer to town, Cannon says.

The group has been meeting in a Clinton Kingdom Hall during the construction.

All that’s left to do is landscaping, a concrete parking lot, “finishing touches” and carpet for the Kingdom Hall building.

Heavy rain washed over many days in March, and muddied the red clay surrounding the site’s 4.7 acres. The group is holding off on putting in carpet until the red clay won’t be such a stain threat.

Cannon says the rain was annoying, but the workers pressed on.

Some volunteers, like Evon Eichelberger of Newberry, came every day “Monday through Sunday” for five weeks.

She mostly helps with food services, which is a camp on one end of the site with a mobile kitchen, chairs and a tent for rain coverage for the volunteers.

“We see to it we have a hot breakfast here every morning at 8 a.m., and we have lunch at 12 and supper at 5 everyday,” she says.

A Saturday a few weeks ago, Eichelberger says they served lunch to 356 volunteers.

Eichelberger, an owner of Spectacular Optics, has the flexibility to step out of the office to help with meals on the construction site.

She’s onsite in the mornings before going to work, before noon, then returns twice more before the day is over.

“After I close the office, I come back,” she says.

Donald Cook of Newberry, who plans to become a Jehovah’s Witness, heard about the work and drove past the site several times.

“I was told about it while attending meetings in Clinton,” says Cook. “I was just amazed at the progress there from one week to the other.”

Though the construction is quick, it’s not unusual.

Kingdom Halls are typically “Quick Build” projects, says Cannon, describing the building system the congregation uses.

A 4-minute YouTube.com video features one Kingdom Hall completion in six days.

After elders within a congregation let regional building committees know their need, they receive supervision from the committee.

They also receive many helping hands.

Local and regional congregational members worked on the Newberry site. Some came from as far away as Greenville and Sumter, says Cannon.

Eichelberger herself has been a Jehovah’s Witness since 1977, and helped build Kingdom Halls in Clinton, Irmo and other sites.

For the out-of-town builds, she’d go every weekend.

“All of them are done in about this amount of time,” she says.

Skilled professional volunteers lead novice volunteers through work like roofing or carpentry.

And the work has passed all its building inspections, says Cannon.

“We view it as part of our sacred service, part of our worship to do something like this,” said Cannon.

“I found it beautiful just to ride by and see the harmony of the black, whites and Hispanics working together for one cause,” says Cook. “I just thought it was a beautiful thing.”