BUILDING A BOND; GOOD OL' BOYS NAIL DOWN HOMES FOR POOR.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

``It's the cheapest health club in town''

- Al Horton, retired insurance broker and member in good standing of the not-so-exclusive Old Timers Club of Habitat for Humanity volunteers.

The wife bugging you to get your duff off the couch and get some exercise? Golf and gardening every day getting a little stale?

Meet the boys. Great bunch of guys. They've all been where you're at, but not now.

Nope, the boys made the break from the retirement blues a few years back, and now they're carrying on like they're 50 again.

They come from all walks of life, all sorts of careers. General contracting, aerospace engineers, insurance brokers and businessmen. Their leader is a retired plumber.

Two, three times a week, you can catch them over at one of the sites in the San Fernando Valley where the wonderful nonprofit organization Habitat for Humanity is building some affordable housing for low-income families.

The boys get there early in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, shoot the breeze, work for a while, break for lunch, work some more, shoot the breeze some more, then go home.

When they're done working on a project a few months later, there's a house standing there.

Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with spending your retirement playing golf five days a week or working every day in the garden growing vegetables, the boys say.

But golf and gardening pale in comparison to building a home from the foundation up for people who never imagined being able to live in their own place.

For these volunteers, shooting 80 or eating homegrown tomatoes doesn't hold a candle to having a woman with five kids and not much else come up to you, with tears in her eyes, and give you a big hug and a kiss for making this next phase of her life possible.

For giving her and her kids a real home.

Multiply that feeling by 10, 20 homes the boys have built over the years, and you begin to see why they look forward to the two or three days a week they volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

``When I was a plumber, I used to grind out the day,'' said Frank DiDomenico, leader of the Old Timers Club. ``Not here. Here it's a joy to come to work because of the friendships and what your efforts are going to mean for a lot of needy families.''

The beauty of his club, Frank said, is that you don't need to have a lick of construction experience to join. Al Horton, a retired insurance agent, didn't have any.

``I'm the club's utility player,'' Horton joked Thursday. ``My career was in life insurance, not construction.''

But when Al called Habitat for Humanity and said he was interested in helping out, Frank told him just to show up. The rest would take care of itself.

``I'm not unique in not having a construction background,'' Horton says. ``Most of the guys don't. But it doesn't matter because we can be taught that.

``Besides, the common bond that's brought us all here has nothing to do with construction,'' he said. ``It's a desire to help people.''

Words like this are music to Helena Delu's ears.

``Our Old Timers Club is just so valuable to the program,'' said the executive director of Habitat for Humanity. ``These wonderful men bring with them all that expertise and the enthusiasm at this stage of life to help others.''

Of course, she said, there's also that other motivating factor. Camaraderie.

``I've had a few of them tell me that, for them, this is the perfect way to still get together with the boys - and be out of their wives' hair a few days a week,'' Delu said.

So, if you're getting a little bored sitting around in retirement, and you want something to keep you physically active a few days a week, give Habitat for Humanity a call at [phone]. Somebody there will get you in touch with Frank.

The boys are always looking for new members to hang out with.

As Al Horton says, it's the cheapest health club in town.

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PHOTO (color) Clockwise from bottom left, Frank DiDomenico, John Sichler, Don Pilling, Erick Pontoppidan, Ken Miller and Al Horton are not the retiring type.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News