Houses building a home

STINESVILLE, Ind. – A butter-colored house with white trim stood proudly, providing warmth from the cold weather Saturday afternoon in Stinesville, Ind. The neatly tied ribbon on the front door signified the house was about to become one of the greatest gifts a family can receive: a home.\nInside, volunteers clad in greek letters and Habitat for Humanity sweatshirts worked quickly to ensure the final details would be ready for the dedication later that afternoon. Mark Cunningham, the new owner of the modest two-bedroom house, scurried from room to room, evaluating the structure with the occasional tap of a big blue pencil he kept tucked behind his ear. \nThough a stroke impaired his ability to speak, his actions spoke louder than words ever could. His grin stretched the entire width of his face as he brushed dust off the backs of volunteers and excitedly guided visitors around his new home. The students who helped build it mirrored his enthusiasm as they admired their work and his happiness.\nFor the first time, the IU Panhellenic Association and the Interfraternity Council collaborated on a massive philanthropy project. Together, all of the greek chapters raised $50,000 and provided hundreds of volunteers to sponsor and build a Habitat for Humanity home, a project they hope to make a tradition.\n“A lot of what greeks do is philanthropic events, but we don’t really do hands-on community service,” said former IFC President Justin Sloan, who began planning the building with former PHA President Brittany Cohen. “We wanted to do something to get people out in the community to … actually feel like they made a difference.”\nSloan said when the council presented the idea to the chapter presidents, everyone was eager to start the project. They agreed that the IFC and the PHA would raise $25,000 each and that chapters would contribute to the fundraising and building efforts. To raise the money, chapters sold T-shirts and solicited donations, current IFC President Mike Piermont said. \nWhen Cohen and Sloan approached Kerry Thomson, director of ministry for Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, about building the home, she said she wasn’t sure they could raise the money and organize the build in time to complete a house during the spring semester. But when she saw that they had a fundraising plan and a commitment from all the chapters to volunteer, she said she became more confident. They finalized the plan in November and began a seven-week build in January.\n“I had no idea how many greeks there are on campus and how many cared enough to come out and build,” Thomson said. “We had hundreds of greeks come out on Fridays and Saturdays to build this house. In my 15 years with Habitat, I’ve never seen as many individuals involved in a certain house.”\nHowever, Piermont said hundreds more students never got the chance to build because only a certain number could work on the house at once. He said people complained about having to go out in the cold weather, but after they began their work, he didn’t hear another negative word. In fact, he said, several volunteers wanted to work more than once.\nThe thrill of working against a deadline to accomplish an objective attracted volunteers, said Evan Summers, IFC vice president of membership development. He said the atmosphere was like that of an intramural tournament.\n“Houses started to get competitive,” Summers said. “Some were like, ‘Our fraternity hung more dry wall than the other houses.’”\nBut the competition only helped them finish the house on time so Mark Cunningham could move in sooner with his wife, Kim, and his daughter, Amanda.\nIn order to qualify for a Habitat house, families must be living in substandard conditions, and the Cunninghams were living in “an extraordinarily dilapidated trailer,” Thomson said. The Cunninghams also had to have enough income to pay Habitat’s mortgage and they had to work 250 “sweat equity” hours per adult on other builds.\nHowever, it was a very small price to pay. Amanda Cunningham said when her father was laid off from Otis Elevator in 1991 and diagnosed with cancer shortly after, her parents thought they’d never own a new home.\n“We all worked together because it’s something we’ve wanted for a long time,” she said. “I’m almost 23, so it has taken 23 years for my parents to get a house of their own.”\nThe Cunninghams thanked everyone involved at the dedication ceremony, held Saturday at Stinesville Church of the Nazarene across the street from their new home. When IFC and PHA members presented the family with a Bible – a Habitat tradition – and a photo album of the build, Kim Cunningham wiped tears from her eyes while her husband kissed the hands of the PHA executives. \nKim Cunningham’s parents, who gave them the land for the build, presented them with the key to the house and were the first to welcome them to the neighborhood, which Kim Cunningham said was a surprise. Kim Cunningham also made a speech on behalf of the family.\n“I hope when people look at this house, they see not only wood and nails, but the camaraderie and love that made it possible,” she said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.\nAfter the ceremony, she said she would never forget how hard the students worked in the bitter cold weather. She said she couldn’t believe her eyes one day when she arrived to see a group of girls on top of the roof shingling the house in an effort to beat a winter storm. She and her daughter both said the friendships they made with the students were a special part of the build.\n“I can’t say thank you enough to Panhel and IFC. There’s not enough words that Mark and I could say to make them understand what they did here,” Kim Cunningham said. “I know it’s a lot of money to raise, but for what it does for a family, I think that right there is so much more.”\nCohen and Sloan said they were amazed to see the project they started come to fruition so quickly. They said they were glad the new executive boards had continued to pursue the project, which had been their passion since the day they met Amanda Cunningham and toured Habitat homes near Bloomington. \n“Brittany and I told her, ‘We’re going to build your house for you,’” Sloan said. “She immediately started crying, and it made me cry. I thought, ‘We’re about to commit to a really good thing here.’”\nBut this house is only the beginning, Piermont said. He said he wants to challenge the greek community to build at least one house per year, if not per semester, and the students are well on their way to reaching that goal. They’ve already raised money for a fall build, Piermont said, and this summer they will look for corporate sponsors to help fund the projects. They hope to raise more than the required $50,000 so they can also pay to furnish the homes, he said.\n“The main objective isn’t to build a house, get recognition and be done,” Piermont said. “We want to keep this going. … There’s still so much work to be done, and we don’t want people to get complacent.”