Habitat Pitt-Greensburg Travels to North Carolina

 

While most students will be working or relaxing over spring break, Pitt-Greensburg’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity will be traveling to Pittsboro, North Carolina, to participate in their 11th annual mission trip.

“We do what we do to bring awareness to homelessness, not just in Pennsylvania but around the country,” said Katie Byers, treasurer of the Pitt-Greensburg chapter of Habitat.

Twenty-seven students, along with two staff members and an alumnus, will help build homes in North Carolina with the Chatham “Habitat for Humanity” chapter.

Byers said members of the club’s executive board get to browse through a catalogue of prospective sites and vote on where to travel for the trip.

“Pittsboro was one of my top choices this year because of Selfie Steve [Clark]. He’s the construction-site supervisor there, and when we were researching sites, I saw his selfies with the other staff members on the Chatham Facebook page. It looked like a really fun environment to work in.”

The labor is tough but exciting. The Habitat travel sites host multiple schools throughout the year as part of the Collegiate Challenge. All the groups work on the same home, or group of homes, adding some mystery to the assignment.

“We don’t know which parts of the home we’re going to get to build, which is cool but kind of scary too because you don’t know what you’re walking into. You want to be the group that does the walls. They’re the most important part; they’re the structure.”

Though the trip is hard work, fun, and a great bonding experience for the Pitt-Greensburg Habitat members, it is also a great chance to do good in the world.

“I joined Habitat last year because some of my friends in high school had been involved with the club, but I didn’t understand what it really stood for until I went on the spring-break trip. That’s when it really sparked my interest. We got to meet the homeowner and see that our hard work was helping out a good person. I had the time of my life.”

The students and staff attending the spring break trip are Sarah Arndt (Student Trip Leader), Alyssa Baker, Raina Bradley, Katie Byers, Justin Cannalley, Akshai Chundru, Shayla Clisby, Flynn Connelly, Trevor Decesere, Patrick Dittmar, Fiona Filencia, Cassie Foradori, Jocelyn Hamwey, Cody Karch, Gabby Mack, Haley Moody, Zach Mozingo, Joe Most, Rob Pokora, Noel Saraceno, Marissa Shaffer, Natalie Skinner, Molly Tanner, Mario Tarabocchia, Quoc Vo, Trevor Wormack, Jimmy Wotring, Brian Root (Campus Chapter Advisor and Trip Leader), Cayla Turner (Graduate Resident Advisor), and Dijon Henderson (Alumnus).