Habitat for Humanity benefits from college students' devotion to community service
Ah, Spring Break.
The beach!
The Parties!
The saws!
The... hammers... say, what's wrong with THIS picture?
Absolutely nothing.
"We started from ground zero and today we've already got the walls up, the plywood up... this is awesome," says Danish Ali, a student at Emory University's Oxford campus. This is what I live for."
These students are building a house in the Hillsdale community. For Habitat for Humanity... on their valuable spring break days. Some deserving home owner will also work on their house. That's part of the reason these young people are so excited about helping.
"I volunteered with Habitat before," says Danish, "not only on the weekend when they were just doing their painting jobs. But seeing this, this is just..."
"You feel like you're really doing something now?"
""We put up the walls of the house and stuff like that so it's really a cool feeling."
Building an entire house during spring break. That's a huge undertaking. But not just one house. I know of at least 6 houses being built by spring breakers for Habitat for Humanity... including another one a few doors down!
Community service. It's a passion they all share, says Anita Havel of Habitat for Humanity.
"It seems to me what they share is a real sense of I want to do something for somebody. And in time s when people are struggling, you see a lot of people who step up and say, I'm in college... I'm doing ok, I'm gonna go help people."
That sounds great and all... but...spring break! Spring break is supposed to be all about the beach and having a good time! That argument doesn't bother Kacey johnson. He's an education major from The University of pittsburgh's Johnstown campus.
"I have my whole life ahead of me," he says. "I can have fun after this, but I'm at the age where I can help out, and I think it's a good idea that college kids can come down here and help out and have this experience. You can learn a lot and help out."
As hard as I try, I can't seem to get these young people to understand that what they're doing is... well... hard to believe by some. Ashley Cappelletti, a student at Lourdes College in Ohio stands her ground!
"But Ashley," I implore. "There are people on the beach right now getting tans and having an adult beverage. You're not doing that!"
"No."
"And neither are these people."
"And?"
"they probably think you're crazy!"
"So what!"
"Exactly! So what!" I say, giving in. "That's the spirit!"
"Exactly!" she says, grinning.
A bent nail, a bloody finger... not beach stuff. But when all is said and done, someone will have an affordable home. Not bad for a bunch of college kids, right?
"It was hard at first," says Arielle Hayden of Emory's Oxford College. "The nails were bending everywhere. But I've gotten a lot better at it."
That's ok, Arrielle. When you replace perfection with compassion, we'll cut you some slack! In Mobile, Here's Darwin, NBC 15 News.
