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Students Partner with Habitat for Humanity
by Kristalyn Bunyan
Wielding hammers, saws, shovels, and paintbrushes, several Mars Hill College
This house is the fifteenth to be built by the Madison County Habitat for Humanity.
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students and faculty members recently worked with a group from St. Andrews Church on a new house for a family in the Brush Creek area. The house is the fifteenth to be built by the Madison County Habitat for Humanity.
"I love doing this and think it is the nicest way to spend time with people," said Marion Plaut, wife of Sociology Professor Tom Plaut. She helped initiate the Madison County chapter in 1986.
By providing free labor, volunteers are able to make the cost of construction more affordable for a family that couldn't otherwise afford a house. Eligible families help build the house they will live in and pay a monthly mortgage.
Freshman Jeremy Edwards kept a look-out for pesky bees, wasps, and hornets as he and Tom Plaut built and installed a door for the crawl space under the house.
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For about four hours on Saturday, September 6, volunteers worked on a variety of tasks.
Freshman Jeremy Edwards kept a look-out for pesky bees, wasps, and hornets as he and Tom Plaut built and installed a door for the crawl space under the house.
Senior Kathryn Hall helped paint the inside of the house, while others worked with shovels outside to level moist clay ground next to the foundation.
Bob Kiggins, a member of St. Andrews Church, helped paint walls. Although temporarily on crutches because of recent surgery, he hobbled about, carrying his own tools and pouring paint into a caked and chipped roller pan.
Directing the group was Jim Utterback, assistant professor of business and new president of the Madison County Habitat chapter.
The local chapter is part of Habitat for Humanity International, which was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller. They had a dream of providing housing for those who could not completely afford housing costs.
Today, Habitat has built more than 150,000 houses around the world, providing more than 750,000 people in more than 3,000 communities with safe affordable shelter.
Directing the group was Jim Utterback, assistant professor of business and new president of the Madison County Habitat chapter.
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The mission of Habitat for Humanity is summed up in the following excerpt from a letter from friends of Koinonia Farm, the first area where Habitat houses were built:
What the poor need is not charity but capital, not caseworkers but co-workers. And what the rich need is a wise, honorable and just way of divesting themselves of their overabundance. The Fund for Humanity will meet both of these needs. Money for the fund will come from shared gifts by those who feel they have more than they need and from non-interest bearing loans from those who cannot afford to make a gift but who do want to provide working capital for the disinherited. . .The fund will give away no money. It is not a handout.
- http://www.habitat.org/how/historytext.html
To contribute to the local organization, contact Jim Utterback at 689-1279. For more information on the international organization, see http://www.habitat.org/how/.
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