"Habitat" Spotlights Student Participation

Saturday April 1, 2006

More than 250 youth groups worldwide are rallying April 3-9 for ''Act! Speak! Build!" week, Habitat for Humanity's fifth annual student advocacy celebration; global events planned for students by home-building helpers at Habitat include community housing symposiums and campus candlelight vigils.

Students participating in the six-day affordable housing hoopla, which is centered around Habitat's 2006 theme, "Poverty Knows No Borders," will be stepping out for US political action days, and events are planned in Armenia, Guyana, Hong Kong, Sierra Leone, South Korea and Nigeria.

Spotlighted highlights include a Washington "Habitat on the Hill" advocacy day with Loyola College of Maryland and a march to the guv's office by students from Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania; students in Bolivia are planning a house build with more than 200 volunteers. Check out Habitat's website to see what might be cooking near your campus.

Students lend Habitat hands in Gulf

Folks were eager to listen when Brandon Marsalis, honorary Habitat relief effort co-chair with fellow New Orleans native Harry Connick, Jr., told Habitat for Humanity post-Katrina, “When the world's attention turns way from this disaster, there will be tens of thousands of New Orleaneans without a place to live. Working with Habitat to help people rebuild their homes and their lives is a constructive way to channel this mind-numbing pain." Habitat for Humanity is one of several relief organizations offering spring break volunteer opportunities in Katrina's wake, and students have hit New Orleans hard this spring to help rebuild homes rather than follow more traditional break pursuits.

Nail-pounding opportunities are still plentiful in the Big Easy and Mississippi -- if your break is over, give it some thought for this summer.

Win travel through hardship experience

If you're one of thousands of students affected by natural disasters or other crises and you've found a way to help yourself and others (like working with Habitat) write about it by May 15 for the Student Youth Travel Association's "Silver Lining" program and be honored with a trip to Chicago for an SYTA leadership conference, where you'll meet others in similar circumstances and learn more about the role students can play in a positive future.

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