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Have you ever wanted to do volunteer work through Carleton but just have not had the time? The Habitat for Humanity Spring BreakAway program offers a great volunteer opportunity without the stress of a busy term. Since joining the Habitat for Humanity Spring Breakaway program in 1991, Carleton students have travelled across the country to help provide affordable housing for families in need. This year is no exception. Come spring break, Carls will participate in builds at Habitat sites in Madison, Wisconsin and Waterloo and Des Moines, Iowa from March 17th through March 28th.
For those of you not familiar with the program, Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, Christian housing ministry that invites people of all backgrounds, races, and religions to build houses in partnership with low-income families. Since its inception, Habitat has built more than 300,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1.5 million people with safe, decent, and affordable housing in an attempt to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness. The housing is affordable for low-income families because there is no profit in the sale price and the cost of construction materials and labor remains low due to donations and volunteer work.
Students from all years are invited to apply to volunteer this spring break. Last year, one student, Sahil Mehra ’11, participated in the Spring BreakAway program because he “wanted to do something productive over break”. Habitat enabled him to “meet a diverse group of students who didn’t know each other before” the he “still stays in touch with”. More importantly Mehra “felt motivated and driven to work and learn how to build a house”. He recalls that he “possibly took more away from the experience than [he] contributed and appreciated learning the degree of work that goes into construction”.
So if you’re interested in making a difference over spring break and forging new friendships with Carleton students along the way, sign up for a Habitat for Humanity trip. Applications will be available online at the ACT Homepage ( http://apps.carleton.edu/campus/act/ ) starting February 2nd.
By Sonya Krishnan