 |
 |
| MELISSA VERSEY / Scroll |
|
| The Architecture and Construction Management Society is working with the Idaho Falls affiliate of Habitat for Humanity to build House No. 16. They hope to have the Jack family moved in by the holidays. |
|
Do what you love to do. It’s advice that the BYU-Idaho Architecture & Construction Management Society students have taken to heart.
They have joined hands with the Idaho Falls affiliate of Habitat for Humanity to do what they love and serve others.
Habitat for Humanity is an international non-profit organization that helps build low cost housing for people who couldn’t otherwise afford it. One such family is the Jack family of Idaho Falls.
The BYU-I ACMS is currently helping Habitat for Humanity build a home for Sheila and Robin Jack and their three sons.
The students and other community volunteers go and help with the construction, working along side the Jack family, who do much of the work on the house themselves, working every Saturday morning from eight to three.
Melody Burns, executive director of the Idaho Falls affiliate, oversees the building of the house in Idaho Falls. Usually around 12 to 14 students have worked with Burns every Saturday on the past three houses Habitat has built in Idaho Falls.
“I love when the students come down!” Burns said. “They help get so much done every week,” and once sided a whole house in one day, boys vs. girls that is. She said she is always looking for more volunteers and the students from BYU-I are a steady flow of good work.
Luis Weger, a junior from McAllen, Texas, has helped on the last two habitat houses in Idaho Falls, and loves to work on them. He pointed out that not only is the experience invaluable for later in his career, but he also has tons of fun doing it.
People don’t get up at seven in the morning on a Saturday to “get up on a cold ladder and hang siding with half numb hands!” Because only people who really want to serve are there, it makes for a great environment, Weger said.
Other students such as Jason Allred, a sophomore from Pinehurst, Idaho, agreed that it’s a great environment to work in.
“You step onto the house lot and you are immediately learning new things,” he said. “Everyone is helping each other. If you don’t know how to hang drywall, they will show you how. And it’s not just for construction majors, its practical for everyone who wants to own their own home someday.”
The house itself is the 16th built by the Idaho Falls affiliate, and is built to Energy Star standards; which according to Burns means “simple, affordable and energy efficient … it’s built so that the family will save hundreds of dollars a year on utilities.”
The dedication is planned for Nov. 12, so the Jack family can move in before the holidays.
But even after all this Allred said, “If you want to really see what it’s all about, go next door to the house we are working on right now. Where in a house that Habitat for Humanity built, you will find one of the happiest families with kids who are excited to show complete strangers their
