Habitat for Humanity: March 2016 Org of the Month
Most of us have heard of Habitat for Humanity, but how much do we know about Bentley’s involvement in the organization? This week, the HYPE team got the chance to talk to Jacob Carvalho (Class of 2017), the vice president of Habitat for Humanity to learn more about their organization and congratulate them on being named March’s Org of The Month!
“It’s not a handout, it’s a hand up”, he explained. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged families with housing. They build homes for families who qualify and cannot build homes themselves. Habitat for Humanity looks at the big picture; building homes for those in dire need will foster their living standards in terms of maintaining a job as well as health and safety. Bentley students play their role in this organization by volunteering to build these homes, which includes painting, landscaping and framework. The numbers of students involved is rapidly increasing with over 80 students signing up to volunteer!
This year, the group has doubled the number of sites they visit and have been increasing their builds. Jacob explained how he contacts community sites and offers assistance. Contacting all the work sites and then working shifts from 6am until 4pm on Saturdays sounds like a lot of work, so we decided to ask him what his motivation was to be so involved in the projects. “After we finish working on a house, we get to meet the owners of the house. They are great people and it’s nice to know we did something to help”. In order for all these builds to be feasible, the Bentley Habitat For Humanity group does their fair share of work through their massive fundraisers. They usually organize raffles, where a few students receive a cash prize and the rest is donated to Habitat for Humanity. Bentley students have got the chance to work on all sorts of different builds with other students from Harvard and Deloitte. The number only continues to grow, so keep your eye out for more fundraisers to support them!
How many of us can say we built a framing wall for a middle duplex and helped build the wall that puts two houses together? I know I can’t. This was one of Jacob’s favorite builds because the end result was amazing and he got to meet the owners of the duplex!
Habitat for Humanity is a way to get out there, try new things and help the community out. I could never imagine myself operating power tools, but I just might volunteer and see what happens! Check out more about Habitat for Humanity at their Facebook page.