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Publications |
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The
Stevens Indicator
The Magazine of the Stevens Alumni Association |
Summer '09 |
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Features |
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‘Deconstructing’ spring break
Instead of partying, members of Stevens’ Habit for Humanity chapter nail down a good cause in New Mexico
By Beth Kissinger, Editor
They’ve worked on homes at an Indian reservation in Eagle Buette, South Dakota, and renovated ones in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood.
But when Stevens’ Habitat for Humanity team first got their latest assignment this spring, it was met with a few disheartened looks.
The locale was enticing: Las Cruces, N.M., a college town north of El Paso and about an hour from the Mexican border. But the job — “deconstruction” — just didn’t seem to fit the “Habitat” spirit.
Fifteen Stevens students still took on the task of “deconstructing” 15 apartments in a Las Cruces apartment complex this past March—removing cabinets, appliances, sinks, bathroom fixtures, even door knobs — and delivering them to the local Habitat ReStore, a sort of second-hand Home Depot. After getting a good cleaning, the items were then sold, with profits benefitting the local Habitat for Humanity chapter.
And as they loaded truck after truck — and then saw people quickly lining up to buy the items — these students knew they were making an impact.
“It was pretty cool how much we were able to help the chapter,” says trip leader Nicole Migliori ’09. She expects a hefty profit for the local Habitat chapter. The team did end up doing painting and landscaping work for several Habitat homes in the area. And they found other ways to help, with some students working at a local soup kitchen during their stay.
The Las Cruces trip was the sixth Collegiate Challenge Trip — an “alternative spring break” as it’s called — for Stevens, which will mark its third year as an official Habitat for Humanity chapter this fall.
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“Deconstruction” and renovation have recently become more common Habitat projects due to the economic downturn, Migliori says. But the maxim of lending a hand to a community in need — and getting so much back in return — remains.
“You come back relaxed, re-centered and feel really good about what you did,” Migliori says. “It helped me appreciate the culture and makes you appreciate the culture of the country so much more.
“You live in their space. You co-exist with them. … It makes an impact on the community you’re visiting.”
It took the students only two days — of long eight-hour days — to “deconstruct” the apartments. The landscaping and painting jobs at the local houses was rewarding, as Migliori particularly recalls the graciousness of one family of three generations — a mother, her son and her granddaughter — now enjoying a nicer home and neighborhood.
For a week, the students became part of a community, which embraced them. They slept on air mattresses inside Peace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces. Strangers brought them enchiladas—all completely different from each other, all delicious, Migliori says — cakes and cookies. They cheered them as they worked. Marilyn and Warren Smith ’60, of Las Cruces, brought them dinner and cake and “adopted” them, Migliori says. And there was time for fun.
The students found time to sled in the snow-like sands of nearby White Sands National Monument (with the Smiths as their tour guides) and hike the Organ Mountains. And they savored the Las Cruces way of life.
“Everyone is really relaxed,” Migliori says. “8 a.m. means some time before 9 a.m.”
The Stevens Habitat chapter — some 30 members strong — also does local projects throughout the year in Jersey City, Paterson and Edgewater. They pay for their spring break trips through Stevens Student Government Associa-tion funds and plenty of fundraising.
Many Habitaters will be returning next year, though Migliori, who has taken a job as a research scientist with Johnson & Johnson, is graduating. She plans to continue doing Habitat projects in the Camden and Philadelphia area and is hoping to start a Stevens “Alumni Collegiate Challenge” for Habitat.
For more information on the alumni effort, e-mail Nicole Migliori at nmiglior@gmail.com.
To contact students from Stevens’ Habitat for Humanity chapter, e-mail
habitat@stevens.edu
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