Biology

WKU’s Habitat for Humanity campus chapter will send a volunteer group to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the week of December 11-17 to assist with building homes. The WKU group will assist the local Habitat for Humanity Affiliate in that area with various projects as part of Habitat’s Collegiate Challenge.

Collegiate Challenge is an alternative break trip program run through Habitat for Humanity’s Youth Programs and volunteer mobilization department. The program offers students an opportunity to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity affiliates from across the country during breaks in their academic year.

The program works to build houses and hope in communities. Students learn a great deal about building, issues of substandard housing, working and living within a community, cultural differences in different parts of the country and most of all themselves as a result of the program.

On the trips the students will pick up wherever the affiliates they are traveling to need assistance. This could be anything from putting down flooring to standing walls to putting on roofing, or siding and anything in-between. The work can be in either new building or by rehabilitating homes. Other options for the work would be to assist with the work in the Restore for the affiliate where slightly used materials are donated repurposed and sold to the public to assist with the funding of the affiliates operations.

Habitat for Humanity of Forsythe County in Winston-Salem is Building Hope by Building Homes. Steadfastly adhering to a philosophy of a “hand-up, not a hand-out,” Habitat is a powerful engine of collaboration and reciprocity whereby those who qualify- by having a history of steady income, verifiable need and a willingness to work hard- soon become involved in giving help to others.  Interest-free mortgage payments go back to Habitat to help future homeowners.  By using donations, in-kind gifts and volunteer labor Habitat builds simple decent homes. Through this proven and integrity-based strategy of making home ownership a reality, Habitat for Humanity has fundamentally changed lives in 90 countries, all 50 United States, and for more than 350 Partner Families in the Winston-Salem community.

WKU Habitat members participating in the trip include Bryan Reaka, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty member; Jacqulene Garrett of Bowling Green, a senior Anthropology major; Ahria Dunn of Lexington, a junior Elementary Education major; A Nyah Jones of Louisville, a junior Nursing major; Corey Anthony of Louisville, a junior Construction Management major; Justice ben Yosef of Bowling Green, a senior Biochemistry major; and Daniel ben Yosef of Bowling Green.

 -WKU-

 Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.