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.”
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News for
the week of Oct 16 – Oct 21
