Construction with a Cause
by: Eduardo Soto ‘11Students find spring break an opportunity to help those in need
Last week over Spring Break, Alex Feidler, Nathan Ryalls, Zac Cullen, Ben Cook, and myself represented Hampden-Sydney at the Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge hosted at Cornelius, NC. We and two other schools, Waynesburg University and Penn State, helped in the second week of building for the Challenge. Our Towns Habitat for Humanity of Cornelius along with several AmeriCorps participants helped us on three houses for five days.
All five days the three groups worked cohesively on all three houses. We did everything from squaring a house, putting up the trusses, and roofing and shingling on all three. The first day we worked on two houses, one group laid down 2x4s over the frame in order to prepare the house for trusses, while the other group laid shingles on another house. The second day we worked more on shingling as well as raised the trusses on the third house. After the trusses were raised and locked a group was sent to lay down OSB in order to roof the house before the rain came. The remaining days were spent on shingling and vinyl. The final day a large portion of the group laid dry wall in the one nearly completed house.
Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit Christian organization that has been building houses for needy families since 1976. Our Towns Habitat has been serving the cities of Mooresville, Davidson, Cornelius, and Huntersville since 1988. Habitat is an awesome and very blessed organization. It has provided qualified, lower class families with decent and affordable homes tailored to their needs. I was introduced to Habitat when Alex Feidler was my roommate. He asked if I wanted to do a similar mission trip last Spring Break, and after that trip I was hooked. This recent trip was equally rewarding. At the Habitat builds, I saw the genuine love and philanthropy that lives within the people of our communities. That warm fuzzy feeling that one gets from helping someone in need can constantly be felt during the build.
Being a Hampden-Sydney gentleman, in my opinion, includes participating in community services. We are all called to help our neighbors in need, and as active members of the community, we must all partake in philanthropy. Using Spring Break as a means to build homes is one of many ways that we can serve the community. If you see any gentlemen who participated in community services over this past Spring Break, thank them please, they each deserve it. And remember, you can always find a way to help your local community. Don’t hesitate to want to participate in philanthropy; the end results are always rewarding.
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