Are you interested in community service? Do you like hands-on work where you can see the difference that you’re making? If you answered yes to these questions, then Habitat for Humanity may be a great club for you to join!

Background

Habitat for Humanity was founded by Millard and Linda Fuller in the 1970s as a Christian organization to provide for adequate shelters built by volunteers for those who needed it. Now, it continues to provide affordable housing for people in need. The people who receive houses do not get the houses built by this organization for free. Instead, they work to eventually own their house and still have a mortgage but with a very low interest rate.

GU Chapter

The chapter is an unincorporated, student-run, student-led group.  It integrates faith along with service and learning to work to build bridges among students, staff and the community.

Habitat for Humanity GU Chapter is an incredibly active club on campus. We are a campus chapter that is associated with the Erie affiliate.  We do builds for them once a month, and do our own advocacy and fundraising here on campus. On build days, members are taken to either the main Habitat for Humanity Erie headquarters, or to any of the houses that are being constructed by the local chapter. There are two shifts on build days: 8am-12pm and 12pm-4pm, and spots are somewhat limited. Activities range from drywalling, to putting up walls, to doing yard work (weather permitting), and so much more!

Two main fundraising events that we participate in are trick-or-treat for change and hire-a-habitater. During trick-or-treat for change, members dress up for Halloween and ask for spare change instead of candy (although the wonderful residents of Erie usually give us candy too). Hire-a-habitater is advertised once a semester to staff of Gannon to contact us with work that they need done. We send out members who have signed up to help these staff members on one day. We also participate in different fundraisers too, so look out for more updates (hint: we may be doing a Blaze Pizza fundraiser soon).

In addition to local community service, our campus chapter also offers both domestic and international ABST trips. Domestic trips in the past have included areas such as West Virginia. International trips have included annual trips to Zambia.

This club is a wonderful opportunity for anyone looking for service hours, or a way to get more involved on campus.

“I joined Habitat as a freshman and loved the idea of helping people build the most necessary thing in life, a home.  I have made many memories through Habitat and made very good connections with people.  It’s something I hope to continue after my college career.” – The current president of Habitat for Humanity GU Chapter, Rachel Amorose.

Along with working with other students, members of our campus chapter work alongside adviser Kathleen Cahill. When asked about her experience as an adviser Kathleen commented, “I’ve been the Advisor for Gannon’s collegiate Habitat for Humanity chapter for three years. Since I became Advisor, students have ceased to amaze me with their dedication, enthusiasm and energy to make a difference in their community through Habitat. I am constantly humbled by the student leaders as well as the chapter in the events they coordinate, fundraisers they hold and the willingness to step up when the Greater Erie Area Habitat for Humanity needs.”

If you are interested in joining Habitat for Humanity GU Chapter, request to join our organization on EngageU. Once you’re accepted, you will receive email updates from me and other members of the executive board about upcoming events. If you’re interested in learning more about our campus chapter, contact me at owens023@knights.gannon.edu, or current president Rachel Amorose at amorose001@knights.gannon.edu. You can also stop by at our biweekly meetings at 6:30pm in Zurn 104! You can also follow us on Instagram @gannon_habitat_for_humanity.