Rather than heading directly home for the holidays, 10 members of the NMU Constructors Club took a detour south to Montgomery, Ala., to help build a Habitat for Humanity house. The group is comprised of construction management majors who volunteer regularly for Marquette Habitat for Humanity. Brent Madison, vice president of the club, said members browsed the FEMA Web site and decided they might possibly want to extend their services to another part of the country. He said the biggest hurdle was convincing the national Habitat organization that their intentions were legitimate. “We tried for six weeks and finally got the okay from the Montgomery chapter," Madison said.
Even though they were out working instead of sleeping in and watching TV like some of their classmates, Madison said the experience was definitely worthwhile. “We got to go on a road trip and help out some great people from another part of the country. This has taught us to look outside of the Midwest and see how much other people benefit from things like Habitat.” The group's efforts garnered an extensive feature story in the Montgomery Advertiser.
Chris Cardinal, the club’s president, was also instrumental in organizing the trip. He and Madison would like to see it become an annual event for the club. They didn’t get to finish the house, but were pleased with their progress, and even made it home in time for Christmas. |
Constructors Club Spends Break Building Home 
After weeks of fundraising, the club sacrificed their first two weeks of vacation to make the 1,169-mile trip to New Hope, a community in northern Montgomery. They were put to work on a house that was half completed and assumed different divisions of labor. Some of the students stood on ladders and painted awnings, while others drilled bolts into wooden frames or reinforced windows.
