As more students express interest in the club, Lehigh’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity has put in place an initiative to become more involved in the Bethlehem community and bring projects on campus.
“We’re starting to do projects in our shop at Lehigh so that if we’re given plans for a door frame or something, we can build it at Lehigh and then ship it,” build chair Tyler Stangle, ’16, said.
This method allows Lehigh’s members to be involved with builds even if they are unable to make it to the site.
Throughout the year, Stangle has gotten teams to builds nearly every three Saturdays, though his goal is to have a group attend every weekend.
“Habitat builds strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter and the volunteers from (Lehigh) are helping us empower our families and continue our mission in the (Lehigh Valley),” said Camille Urbano, the Lehigh Valley affiliate with whom Stangle coordinates, in an email.
Members of the club are imperative to Lehigh Valley’s team and Urbano said she is always excited to see Lehigh students at builds within their own community.
There are two types of builds that members of the club partake in: blitz builds, which are quick and consist of creating the framework of the house, and core builds, which only require eight people, four from Lehigh Valley Habitat and four volunteers.
The club’s president, Karen Konkoly, ‘17, has worked on a number of projects and became involved with Habitat after completing a service trip in Zambia where she got a sense of the global housing crisis.
“I think that people often join Habitat because they’re familiar with the organization as a community service organization,” Konkoly said. “Habitat is a great way to do hands-on community service because you get to go to the builds and meet homeowners.”
Aside from builds, the club meets once a month to discuss upcoming opportunities, fundraising and to complete a building activity. This month, members participated in a practice run of their upcoming event, Cardboard City.
Cardboard City is a new development this year and will be taking place April 15 from 6 p.m. until midnight.
“Teams across campus can register online and fundraise money,” Konkoly said. “And then based on that amount, they’ll get a certain amount of cardboard boxes and there will be a competition to see who can build the best cardboard house.”
Konkoly hopes the event will raise awareness about Habitat for Humanity and encourage new members to join the initiative towards providing decent housing within the Bethlehem community and around the world.
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