ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 27, 1996 TAG: 9604290028
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
ROANOKE COLLEGE students have helped build houses in other states, but their first Habitat for Humanity house in the Roanoke Valley will be dedicated today.
The Roanoke College Chapter of Habitat for Humanity today will dedicate the first house it has built in the Roanoke Valley since the chapter was recognized as an official campus organization almost six years ago.
A few finishing touches are needed on the 1,100-square-foot house on Camille Avenue in Northwest Roanoke, but the Rev. Paul Henrickson said Marie Sweetenberg should move in within the next few days. Sweetenberg is a single mother of three who has been renting an apartment in Roanoke.
Henrickson is chaplain at Roanoke College and an adviser to the Habitat chapter.
Roanoke College students have helped with other Habitat for Humanity projects for about 10 years. The students began taking "Alternative Spring Break" trips for the purpose in 1986. Their first was to Columbia, S.C., where nine students and faculty helped another Habitat group build a house.
"We put on one half of a roof in a week," Henrickson said Wednesday as he finished painting a closet door in the Roanoke house.
Every trip since the first, the group boasts, it has completely framed-in at least one house during the week. The group also is taking between 25 and 30 people per trip now, Henrickson said.
In 1993, the group went to Homestead, Fla., and helped Habitat for Humanity International rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Andrew.
The next year, they traveled to Tanzania in Africa to lend a hand.
The Roanoke College chapter broke ground on the Camille Avenue house last fall. More than 200 students and faculty members helped during the construction - as many as 30 on some days.
It took 21/2 years for the students to raise $7,000 of the money they needed. The other $8,000 came from an Allstate Foundation grant.
Because a college chapter cannot build a house in its name or get involved in legal proceedings, the Roanoke College group has had to work through the Roanoke Valley Habitat for Humanity, Henrickson said.
The students have only a couple of weeks of classes left this semester. When they return in the fall, they'll have to start fund raising all over again.
"We don't want to wait three years to build another one," Henrickson said.
The group is trying to think of ways to raise money more quickly. Last year, it sponsored a concert that raised $2,300.
"That was a good concert," Henrickson said. "We really need Hootie and the Blowfish."
The chapter's president, Charles Hammond, has written a letter to the college administration requesting financial support.
Hammond, a sophomore, would like the chapter to be included in budget appropriations every year. At least one other Habitat college chapter - Elon College - gets yearly pledges from its administration, he said.
"We'd like to build a house every year," Hammond said.
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