by Jared Rutecki

This Saturday, Oct. 28, more than a dozen volunteers from OU-COM are joining volunteers from Habitat for Humanity International to help build a home in Nelsonville for Julie McDaniel and her two children on Make a Difference Day, a national day of service.

The OU-COM volunteers are members of COMCorps, the AmeriCorps affiliate of the college’s Community Health Programs (CHP). AmeriCorps is a national service program that has been hailed as a domestic Peace Corps, meeting critical needs in education, public safety, health and the environment.

“Getting things done is our motto. Our Make a Different Day project is part of our effort to have a positive impact in our community,” says Mindy Bowers, a COMCorps member who is coordinating the group’s participation in the Habitat project. She’ll also be there hammering nails or pitching in whatever way needed. And COMCorps will be making lunch that day.  

“The roof is in place, 60 percent of the drywall is done, and the front porch is almost finished. We hope to complete the home by Thanksgiving. Our volunteers will find helping to build the McDaniel home on Grover Street a hands-on project with lots of on-the-job training taking place,” says Cathie Chapman, interim chief office administrator for Habitat’s local branch in Athens. Habitat for Humanity is an ecumenical Christian housing ministry working to eliminate poverty and homelessness around the world, powered by efforts of volunteers — including former President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalind Carter — from all walks of life.

Whether the volunteers are painting, hanging doors, installing plumbing or hammering nails into two-by-fours depends on what needs to be done.

“They will have an opportunity to do some things that they might have always wanted to do,” says Chapman. “Some people — with almost no instruction — discover they can do things they hadn’t expected. Volunteers finish the day feeling very empowered.”

Two years ago on Make a Difference Day, COMCorps helped the residents of Portland in Meigs County renovate an abandoned school building for use as a community center, Bowers says. The community center now serves a large migrant worker population that is part of the rural community’s farming industry. The community center also has a health and social service section and a Civil War museum.

Another Make a Difference Day project filled a giant Plexiglas container with cigarette butts and packages that the group picked up around the Athens area. The container became part of a health-awareness display used to demonstrate that cigarettes pollute the lungs and the environment. 

“COMCorps’ goal is to make children and families safer and healthier,” says Nancy Schell, CHP outreach coordinator and director of COMCorps. “Participating in a Habitat build for a family is just one way we can help.

“It’s great that our members work weekdays at their sites supporting family health projects and are still motivated to work on other projects over the weekend.”

“Our mission is to make a difference in our community,” says Bowers. “We go out and help whereever we can.”