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Maroon Edition Habitat House ahead of schedule |
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Monday, 19 October 2009 |
By SHEA STASKOWSKI
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When the Starkville chapter of Habitat or Humanity broke ground on the first-ever Maroon Edition house in August, they estimated that the family it is intended for would be able to move around Christmas time.
Luckily for the Harvey, Randle family, the hard work put in by the students, faculty and staff of Mississippi State University, their dreams of home ownership will be coming true ahead of schedule as the Habitat teams estimates a Thanksgiving move-in date.
“I’m very pleased with the work they have done,” Soon-to-be home owner Sabrina Randle said. “We’re looking forward to having Thanksgiving dinner in our new home. The children have already made a list of foods they want me to cook,” she said with a smile.
Over the last two months, more than 700 volunteers have spent their time swinging hammers and drilling screws to make this home become a reality for a deserving family.
“We thought we would need volunteers through February,” Habitat office manager Peggy Branch said. “But now we’re cutting off volunteers as early as November 7,” she added.
Typically, when a volunteer comes to a habitat house, they work in four hours shifts, which is how the MSU students did it. More than 700 volunteers multiplied by four hours equals over 2,800 hours of community service, which is fantastic, Branch said.
Grad student and volunteer coordinator Melissa Sharp has had a hand in getting those 700 students and faculty member to the site.
“I’ve gotten to see what the students get out of this and how they’ve enjoyed it,” Shrap said. “I wanted to be apart of the excitement and to give back to Starkville.”
MSU president Dr. Mark Keenum visited the house last week to try his hand at painting. He also presented Habitat’s Exexcutive Director Freddie Raspberry with a $10,000 check. The money was raised from the students at MSU.
“It was their goal to fund an MSU habitat house,” Habitat Faculty Advisor Lynne Cossman said. “A group of students started collecting money in 2006 and it’s just been sitting in a band account waiting for this opportunity.”
Keenum, who was present to hammer the first nail in August was please to simply be apart of the service, he said.
“It’s inspiring to see the MSU spirit make such a big difference in the life a family,” he said. “Surely this is a testament to the volunteer spirit of the MSU students, faculty and staff.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 20 October 2009 )
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