Campus and community coming together for good cause
Alexis Palmer Bob Dunn, DeWayne Erdmann, Michelle Mariscal and children, Sadie and Fred Brewer, and UVU Vice President and Habitat board member Vale Hale break ground for the Mariscal family’s home in Springville. Gilbert Cisneros/UVU Review
The Building Construction department and the Volunteer & Service-Learning Center have teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to build a home for a family in need.
The new home being built for the Mariscal family will be the third house that UVU and Habitat for Humanity have worked on together.
The Mariscal family includes a single mother, Michelle, and her two children. The groundbreaking for their home was Wednesday, Oct. 20, in Springville. It was attended by more than 25 people.
“It’s a campus and community coming together to do the home,” said Alexis Palmer, the director for the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center.
The first home built through the combined efforts of UVU and Habitat for Humanity was built in Orem during 2007-08 and the second was built in Provo during the 2009-10 academic year. Building Construction students will do the majority of the building on the house. Then campus clubs, student organizations and departments across campus will have the opportunity to sponsor a specific room in the home.
“Maybe someone wants to sponsor a little girl’s bedroom,” Palmer said. “Then they’ll go in and paint the bedroom and get a few things for the room and decorate it.”
The partnership between UVU and Habitat for Humanity started with the help of President Sederburg and Palmer in 2007. Sederburg heard about a school that had done it back east and wanted UVU to have some sort of community involvement.
“He approached me and it took about a year of partnership development. We got every thing figured out and started it,” Palmer said.
This is also a great opportunity for students in the Building Construction department to develop real life skills.
“This is a vehicle for students to work on,” said DeWayne Erdmann, Associate Professor of the Building Construction department. “They can see first hand how things are done.”
There will be between 12 to 18 students working on the house for two semesters. They will work on the house 18 hours a week. They will do everything from concrete to drywall; they will not, however, be doing the plumbing and electrical work.
Habitat for Humanity will provide the majority of the money for the project; however, the school helps with some of the funding through room sponsoring and the work that the Building Construction students do.
If interested in sponsoring a room, contact Alexis Palmer at the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center in LC 210.