Ober, Dutch Wonderland’s suit-and-tie director of operations, felt his grimy shirt sticking to his back after spending the morning hanging drywall in a pair of homes for Habitat for Humanity.

He and 35 other theme park employees are well on their way to logging more than 1,300 hours working on the community service project with Habitat for Humanity and Tabor Community Services.

“It’s nice to work for a company that gives the opportunity and privilege to do a kind of noble work here for folks that may not be able to be in a home,” Ober said. “Everyone should have a roof over their head.”

Dutch Wonderland employees will work to renovate properties in the South Plum Street area and assist in the construction of a new home on Fairview Avenue.

Habitat fixes or builds homes for low-income buyers who are required to invest 500 hours of “sweat equity” in the property in six months.

The project ties into Dutch Wonderland’s corporate mission, which each year asks full-time employees to plan and complete a series of goals, said Lisa Side, marketing manager at Dutch Wonderland.

“Teams of six to eight people per day will share the experience of drywalling, framing, painting, hammering, hauling and whatever else is called for to help build homes for others in need,” Side said.

In the past, Dutch Wonderland employees were given the task of setting their own goals to challenge them as individuals to “stretch beyond the scope of their job,” Side said.

But this year the full-time staff and several part-time employees are working as a team in an effort to increase “our value to the community in which we work,” Side said.

“I mentioned that I had worked on a women’s build for Habitat for Humanity and said what a great program it was to work on,” Side said. “Our GM said ‘Lisa, I’m going to take you to task, and I want you to coordinate it for the whole group to do.’ So that’s what I did.”

Ober, along with Eric Holland, Dutch Wonderland regional manager, labored in the renovation of the Fairmount House, a former tavern and inn that dates back to 1807. Dutch Wonderland employees also worked with the new homeowners, who moved here from Las Vegas several years ago.

Side said the intent of the community service project, which comes from Dutch Wonderland’s parent company, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts is to align employees with the core values of Milton S. Hershey, company founder.

Side said some Dutch Wonderland workers such as Ober have extensive experience working on construction projects, while “others have only lifted a hammer to hang a picture on a wall.”

Ober said the experience was a fun and rewarding way to give back to the community and help Habitat for Humanity.

“I’ve done drywalling in my own homes. It was nice to go and do it for somebody else,” Ober said. “It really felt good. You know they truly did appreciate what you were doing.”