Building Hope:
Students and Staff Lend a Hand with Habitat for Humanity
Twenty
students from The Ohio State University at Newark spent their spring break
rebuilding homes with this year’s Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge.
The group spent the week of March 18 – 24 based at Camp Hope, a volunteer
camp in Violet, Louisiana, with approximately 1,000 other college students
from around the country. Violet is located southeast of New Orleans, in St.
Bernard Parish, an area that sustained critical damage during Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita.
Collegiate Challenge is a year-round program that allows students to spend a week of their break working with a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in the United States. Accompanying the students were Derek Thatcher, Student Activities Director; Dr. Catherine Gynn, Chief Information Officer; and Granville resident Jack Gynn.
“We slept in a gutted elementary school — 30 people to a room,” said Thatcher. “But the students worked hard, never complained, and took pride in the work they were doing,” he said. “I’m extremely proud of them.” This is the fifth year that Ohio State Newark has participated in the Collegiate Challenge.
The following Ohio State Newark students participated in the Collegiate Challenge: Alisha Boyd, Danielle Hamilton, Tiffany Hart, Stacie Huang, Angela Hubbard, Heather Matthews, Toni Reidenbach, Ashley Smith, Erin Spurgeon, Morgan Tingler, Michelle Ton, Renee Ware, Matt Archer, Oleg Gelfand, Jonathon Harper, Craig Jones, Alex Matthews, Dan O’Neil, Devin Pauly, and Todd Rickenberg.
“This experience helped me figure out what I want to do with my life and who I want to be,” said Heather Matthews, an Ohio State Newark student from Dayton.
In addition to receiving contributions from a wide variety of sources, the group held many fund-raising activities for the trip, including a spaghetti dinner, a cookout, bucketing at Wal-Mart in Newark, as well as selling “shares” of the experience, with a postcard sent from Louisiana to the shareholder. Jono’s Coffee in Newark also donated a portion of one day’s receipts to the effort.
“It’s unbelievable that 18 months after the hurricanes, there is still so much work to do on the Gulf Coast,” said Catherine Gynn. “I am especially proud of our students for their true desire to help others and their positive attitudes when facing such disheartening and difficult circumstances.”
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian organization dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide. Founded in 1976, Habitat has built more than 225,000 houses around the world.
For more information, contact the program’s advisor, Derek Thatcher, at 740.366-9171.