Construction management senior Chuck Hutton, right, and Lansing resident John Leyser smile as they work Saturday morning on the 100th home for Habitat for Humanity Lansing at MSU’s Lot 89. Leyser has worked on three Habitat for Humanity homes, two of which were in New Orleans.
A few dozen students and volunteers went Saturday to MSU’s Lot 89 to begin building a house for an MSU student through Habitat for Humanity.
The event kicked off the beginning of a five-week build that will provide a 1,100-square-foot house for Anna Malavisi, an MSU philosophy graduate student, and her three daughters.
The build is sponsored by Whirlpool Corp. as part of the 2010 Whirlpool Building Blocks program, which selects seven different communities from across the nation in which to build a house. MSU is one of the first colleges to be selected for a build in the program’s history.
The outer shell of the house will be built at MSU before the house is moved to its permanent location in Lansing at the end of the week. From there, MSU students and Habitat for Humanity volunteers will continue to work on the home. The build is expected to end Oct. 15, the weekend of MSU’s homecoming.
About 30 students will work daily on the house, said Denise Paquette, executive director for Habitat for Humanity Lansing.
“Working with MSU is always a pleasure,” Paquette said. “The energy and enthusiasm (students) bring to the build and keeping us on our toes as far as technology and thinking about things that are new in the field of construction.”
Gov. Jennifer Granholm spoke at the kick-off event, along with Malavisi. More than 50 people attended a blessing for the house.
“It’s an added bonus the fact this is being built (at MSU),” Malavisi said. “This had made it very special.”
Malavisi has worked on builds before, and has waited several years for her own home from the organization.
“It’s really nice, to see these young people here enthusiastic and wanting to help build a home,” she said.
Many of the students at the build were a part of the MSU student chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The organization, a direct affiliate of Habitat for Humanity Lansing for about 12 years, works to both build and fund homes as well as doing advocacy work for poverty and working with inner-city youth, said construction management senior Jim Grenier, the chapter’s president.
“This year we’re fortunate enough to have this opportunity,” Grenier said. “We’re going double shifts for 10 days straight.”
International relations junior Gina Herakovic, the vice president for the MSU chapter of Habitat for Humanity, said she joined the group because she is interested in helping others.
“I did alternative spring break in high school and it really interests me,” Herakovic said.
Paquette said students interested in helping can sign up through MSU Service-Learning.
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