Ogden News

WKU’s Habitat for Humanity campus chapter will be sending two volunteer groups to Pensacola, Fla., and Winston-Salem, N.C., next week to assist with building homes.

The WKU groups will be assisting the local Habitat for Humanity affiliates in those areas 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 Jan. 19-25 trips, 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 and anything in-between. Some of the affiliates are concentrating on new building and some affiliates will be focusing on rehabilitating homes.

About the Florida project

Pensacola Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit, ecumenical, Christian ministry whose purpose is to build homes and improve communities in partnership with low-income and very low-income families in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. Founded in 1981, Pensacola Habitat has built and renovated more than 1,000 homes. Pensacola Habitat for Humanity is not a give-away program. Through the use of donations, in-kind gifts and volunteer labor Habitat builds simple decent homes. Habitat houses are sold to low-income families at no profit and financed with a no-interest loan.

WKU participants in the Pensacola trip are: Susan Redick, a nursing faculty member from Bowling Green; Jr. Young, a senior construction management major from Scottsville; Gavin Young, a sophomore civil engineering major from Glasgow; Adam Wilck, a senior architectural science major from Franklin, Tenn.; Rachael Childress, a sophomore architecture major from Leitchfield; Alex Sherfield, a junior family and consumer sciences major from Mayfield; Konnor Jones, a freshman chemistry major form Bowling Green; Jason Klein, a sophomore construction management major from Russellville; Dylan Nonweiler, a senior architectural science major from Owensboro; Ryan Hunt, a junior construction management major from Paducah; and Chloe Hawkins, a sophomore interdisciplinary studies major from Nashville, Tenn.

About the North Carolina project

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. 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 participants in the Winston-Salem trip are: Bryan Reaka, an architectural and manufacturing sciences faculty member from Bowling Green; Kendra Whitaker, a junior architectural science major from Milton; Courtlyn Sells, a freshman performing arts major from Powder Springs, Ga.; Benjamin Phillips, a senior agriculture major from Henderson; Katie Block, a freshman nursing major from Danville; Jeffry Edwards, a senior architectural science major from Murray; and Kateri Rhodes, a senior graphic design major from Whitesville.

Contact: Bryan Reaka, (270) 745-7032.