Helping families with habitat for humanity
Between 8:45 and 9 a.m., Amir Malek, a sophomore civil engineering major and philanthropy chair of the Sigma Nu fraternity, started waking everyone up.
They went to bed late Friday night after hosting a party, but by 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, nine Sigma Nu members were ready to get to work. Some breakfasted on bagels and juice, others on root beer. At least six of them are ready by this time each Saturday morning to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. After all, helping other people is what philanthropy is all about in Sigma Nu, Malek said.
There is a home, a residence of Bobbie Myers, single mother of three, standing unfinished at 522 E. 200 South in Logan. It is wrapped in white plastic wrapping bearing the moniker Anderson Lumber in green lettering.
A few months ago, however, no home stood in that location.
Another volunteer, Karin de Jonge-Kannan, met the Sigma Nu members at the home with Vernon Parent, who is the home’s construction supervisor. Construction on the home started in May 2001, de Jonge-Kannan said. She said the 1,260 square-foot home features three bedrooms, a kitchen, one and one-half baths, a dining room, living room and laundry room.
Parent said the main challenge with the house is getting the jobs, crew and money together at the same time. However, he said many Logan businesses have been helpful by providing donations of both products and money. He said the doors were purchased at 50 percent off the retail price and Thompson Electric helped by doing electrical wiring.
The interior of the house currently consists of the foundation, frame, outer walls, insulation, a heating system and a bathtub. Parent said the next tasks are to install a high-efficiency filter for the heater, sweep insulation debris, clean the bathtub, resolve some sheet rock mismatching, install ceramic tile in the bathroom and finish preparations for professional workers to install sheet rock.
“I think things are looking really good right now,” Parent said.
Although they are volunteers, some Sigma Nu members bring with them some experience. Mike Bergs, a member of Sigma Nu who is a senior majoring in marketing, said last time he volunteered at the home he helped set toilets.
“I did plumbing before my freshman year,” Bergs said.
Malek, a civil engineering major, said the experience is beneficial to him.
“It’s nice to see a house go up on a first-hand basis,” he said.
Malek said landscaping probably won’t happen at the home until March when the snow thaws.
Sigma Nu President Scott Bills, a sophomore majoring in economics and finance, said volunteering in the community is not required, but the Sigma Nus are a service-oriented group.
“The guys get a kick out of it,” Bills said.
De Jonge-Kannan said she hopes the Myers family can move into the home in late March or early April. She said fundraising still needs to happen.
“We’ve always had a cash-flow problem,” she said.
In order to combat that problem, de Jonge-Kannan said there will be two jail-a-thons, one at Utah State University in the Taggart Student Center and one in the Cache Valley Mall. High-profile students and faculty at USU and community leaders and citizens in the mall will be jailed until they post bail in the jail-a-thons, she said. De Jonge-Kannan said to watch for more details and future announcements about the jail-a-thons, which will take place Feb. 28.
Anyone interested in volunteering with Habitat for Humanity may contact Carol Rosenthal, with Student Services at 797-4027 or by e-mail at carolr@cc.usu.edu.