Biology

WKU’s Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter is sending a volunteer group to Omaha, Nebraska, this week (May 18-23) to assist with building homes.

The WKU group will be assisting the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Omaha with various projects as part of Habitat’s Collegiate Challenge Program.

Participants are Bryan Reaka of Bowling Green, faculty member in WKU’s Department of Architectural and Manufacturing Sciences; Adam Byrd of Franklin, a junior architectural science major; Pegah Kakavand of Bowling Green, a graduate student in engineering technology management; Aaron M. Wilson of Scottsville, a junior interior design and architectural science major; Komlan Tamatekou of Chicago, Illinois, a senior architectural science major; and Edmund Martelli of Niagara Falls, New York, instructor in the Department of Architectural and Manufacturing Sciences,

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.

During the trip, the WKU students will pick up wherever the local affiliates need assistance. This could be anything from putting down flooring to standing walls to putting on roofing or siding. Some of the affiliates are concentrating on new building and some affiliates will be focusing on rehabilitating homes.

Habitat for Humanity of Omaha will be having its biggest event of the year the first week in June. During the Builder’s Blitz, the Omaha chapter will be building and remodeling 10 homes on North 21st Street in 10 days. Leading up to this the chapter will be making sure all the basement and loadbearing walls have been framed, window wells installed, window rock installed, and potentially decks on. This is where the team from WKU will be working most of the time during the week. Habitat for Humanity of Omaha has 45 homes to construct this year so the work the group from WKU will do is vital to helping accomplish this goal.

Contact: Bryan Reaka, (618) 610-8343