Spring Break
Habitat for Humanity builds more than just homes
Issue date: 10/18/07
- Page 1 of 3 next >
Weekends are a time many Hopkins students use to their advantage. Students may catch up on lost sleep, spend their time socializing or make the more enterprising trek to MSE. There is, however, an exception.
Each Saturday, a group of Hopkins students work hard to improve the health of the Baltimore community - and it's not by working at the med school. The Hopkins chapter of Habitat for Humanity joins forces with other students and volunteers to make the city more vibrant by rehabilitating rowhouses in West Baltimore's Sandtown neighborhood.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit housing group which aims to cure homelessness by building inexpensive, low-income homes for deserving families suffering from poverty. The Hopkins Habitat chapter has been around for about 10 years, and in that time, the group has restored nine homes for low-income Baltimore families.
"We try to build a house every year," said senior Ariana Barkley, president of the Hopkins chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat's goal of providing safe, simple housing for the poor is accomplished through the work of volunteers, and it may appear that their generosity could be taken advantage of. However the process for determining who will buy the houses is rather rigorous. The families must first submit an application that is reviewed by a selection committee.
The chosen families are those living in tough situations who are willing to work for a better life. Each family must work alongside other volunteers, including contractors and other professionals, to make their dream of a new home become a reality. The members of the Hopkins chapter help these dreams come true in what Barkley calls a "three-pronged goal."
The first of these three goals is, obviously, to actually provide the labor necessary for building the houses. Many Habitat groups build houses from the ground up, but in Baltimore, the organization chooses instead to renovate some of the many already standing abandoned rowhouses that populate the city. They spend every Saturday in the Sandtown neighborhood gutting and then restoring the house.
Each Saturday, a group of Hopkins students work hard to improve the health of the Baltimore community - and it's not by working at the med school. The Hopkins chapter of Habitat for Humanity joins forces with other students and volunteers to make the city more vibrant by rehabilitating rowhouses in West Baltimore's Sandtown neighborhood.
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit housing group which aims to cure homelessness by building inexpensive, low-income homes for deserving families suffering from poverty. The Hopkins Habitat chapter has been around for about 10 years, and in that time, the group has restored nine homes for low-income Baltimore families.
"We try to build a house every year," said senior Ariana Barkley, president of the Hopkins chapter of Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat's goal of providing safe, simple housing for the poor is accomplished through the work of volunteers, and it may appear that their generosity could be taken advantage of. However the process for determining who will buy the houses is rather rigorous. The families must first submit an application that is reviewed by a selection committee.
The chosen families are those living in tough situations who are willing to work for a better life. Each family must work alongside other volunteers, including contractors and other professionals, to make their dream of a new home become a reality. The members of the Hopkins chapter help these dreams come true in what Barkley calls a "three-pronged goal."
The first of these three goals is, obviously, to actually provide the labor necessary for building the houses. Many Habitat groups build houses from the ground up, but in Baltimore, the organization chooses instead to renovate some of the many already standing abandoned rowhouses that populate the city. They spend every Saturday in the Sandtown neighborhood gutting and then restoring the house.
Be the first to comment on this story