Built to last
Students spend time constructing home for family in need
A mother and her two sons are getting a new house this fall courtesy of Campbell County Habitat for Humanity and the work of nearly 100 students from Liberty University’s Eagle Scholars
Leadership Program.
Construct — Students built a house over a two-day period. Photo provided
The annual fall Blitz Build took place Oct. 17-18 as volunteers built a new house from the foundation up. In a matter of hours, the walls of the house had been erected, and by the end of the weekend the house’s roofing, siding, dry walling and insulation had also been completed. Throughout the day, volunteers were also encouraged to write Bible verses and prayers for the partner family on the unfinished walls of the house.
This year’s recipient, Delia Jones, was moved by how many people came out to help build a new home for her family.
“I just lost my mom last year, and then I just had another child, so it’s just been kind of hard because my mom lived with me, so we worked together a lot,” Jones said. “Today when they did the ceremony and blessed (the house), tears were in my eyes. So it’s very exciting, and I love to see everybody come together.”
Jones said her oldest son, RJ, was also very excited to be getting his own home.
“(Habitat for Humanity) asked him what he was going to do if we got the house, and he told them, ‘Well, I’m gonna build my mom a garden,’” Jones said. “So hopefully soon we will have a garden here, so he’s really excited. And then I have a 5-month-old, so he’ll have his own home to grow up in.”
David Shreve, president of the Campbell County Habitat for Humanity affiliate, said the goal of Habitat for Humanity is to eradicate substandard housing by working with families to build a home that they pay for through a no-interest mortgage.
“We choose partner families who’ve got to be living in substandard housing, who have less than 50 percent of the median income,” Shreve said. “We choose a partner family, then we build a home with them. … Once that home is built, they’ll move in and we will sell the home to them at exactly what it cost us to build. That is why volunteers are so important because volunteers obviously don’t cost us anything, except lunch.”
Shreve estimated that approximately 125 volunteers came out to participate in the build each day, and he hoped the house will be completed and ready for the Jones family to move in before the holidays.
This is the second year that the Eagle Scholars have brought students to volunteer at the Habitat for Humanity Blitz Build. Sophomore Eagle Scholar Sarah Curtas participated both years and enjoyed getting to work with fellow students in service of someone else.
“You get to watch a house go from nothing to everything, and it’s a really cool experience to watch people go out and be humble servants like God has called us to,” Curtas said. “It has really taught me the aspect of what humble servitude is. Not serving out of selfish ambitions but serving for the purpose of another person. It humbles you because you get to watch as a house goes up for someone that is not yourself. You put in all this effort to watch someone else enjoy and receive enjoyment and fulfillment from something that you built.”
Planning has already begun for next year’s Blitz Build for not one, but two, houses that will be built for families in need. Shreve said one of the partner families for next year has already been chosen. The build will take place during either the first or second week of October.
LAPP is a news reporter.