Sparticus Builders gives back by building affordable homes for the way you live.

Text: Hanne Christman
Photography: Djamel E. Ramoul/Richard Rossetto

Verbal and written communication are supreme in the adult world, but there is no language barrier with children.  Setting words aside, you catch the washed-hair smell of the child in your lap.  You feel the texture of tiny pals clapping in joy, play charades and wildly dance. 

"I didn't need to learn Vietnamese; they didn't need to learn English - we were talking from the beginning," says Oliver Plunkett, reminiscing of his first experience at a Vietnamese orphanage in 2002. 

"It's so sad," interjects Oliver's wife, Lan.  "These children are just left on the orphanage's doorstep."

"But from day one, they are loved," Oliver finishes.  Oliver and Lan have that way about them, the way a husband and wife so in tune with one another sprint their way to the conclusion of a story that they both know has a happy ending.  "The Buddhist nuns at Care Orphan Institute of Duc Son Pogoda in Vietnam love these children as their own and it makes a dramatic difference.  But it doesn't change the fact that they're poor.  So poor that finding food is always a constant struggle."

"Which is why we decided to provide food and clothing for all 200 orphans," said Lan.  "Those kids deserve to eat, and not just rice or porridge but real meals.  We are fortunate to be able to do that..."

So at least once a year, Lan and Oliver Plunkett board a plane for Lan's native Vietnam, not only to visit her family but to catch the washed-hair smell of the child in their lap, to feel the texture of tiny palms tugging at their leg.

That urge to give back has permeated the Plunketts' lives, individually and as a couple.  Besides Vietnam, Lan and Oliver are currently constructing a building in the Dominican Republic to house visiting mission families, and they frequently travel to third-world countries in other aid projects.  But as far flung as these ventures seem, it was during one of these trips to Vietnam that Lan and Oliver decided it was time to give back to Marion County in a new kind of way.  Sure, their work with the CFCC Foundation is worthy of applause, as are their endeavors with the Public Education Foundation, College Park Elementary and Blessed Trinity Catholic, but it just didn't' fell like enough. 

"Our local community is everything,"  says Lan."  Oliver and I are always looking for something to give back, because we've gotten so much.  We just feel called to do something bigger than ourselves."

Together, they conceived a company that would fulfill the needs of the home buying public by building communities with great care and always recognizing the importance of giving back to our community.  Indeed, what better way to provide for the young people of Marion County than by making sure they had homes to call their own?  What better way to live the American Dream than to make that same dream available to all?