Eastern Connecticut State University senior Kelvin Powell dug his shovel into a pile of dirt March 24 on a formerly empty lot in downtown Wilmington. While many of his peers were spending their spring breaks lounging on a tropical beach, Powell and his friends were building a home for a Wilmington woman and her grandchildren.
Throughout March, students from around the country spent their spring breaks in Wilmington working on the house as part of Habitat for Humanity’s collegiate challenge.
The first few weeks in March, students from Villanova University, Randall High School in Alabama, Michigan Technological University and Kutztown University in Pennsylvania created the house’s framework. March 21-25, Powell’s group from ECSU — joined by 10 students from North Central College in Illinois — installed floorboards and cabinets, painted the interior and exterior and started work on the yard and driveway.
They were guided by Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity site supervisor Josh Rammel. The local branch of the international organization has numerous Wilmington volunteers, Rammel said, who help further Habitat’s mission of building homes for those in need. But working with the college groups for a week at a time is a unique experience for him.
“They just bring a different energy and a different spirit,” he said, remarking that it was noble of them to spend their entire spring break helping others.
While Powell’s group represents the ECSU student chapter of Habitat for Humanity, Powell said there was no pressure on chapter members to participate in the alternative spring break. Students interested in making the trip had to fill out an application, so the final 14 were only those who really wanted to take part.
“Nobody would be here if they wanted to do something else,” he said. “They decided to dedicate their time, and it’s something I’m super appreciative of.”
Powell got involved with Habitat for Humanity because he is passionate about helping others get back on their feet. It was rewarding for him and the others when, earlier in the week, they met the woman and two grandchildren who will live in the home they build.
“We’re really happy to give her a second chance at life,” Powell said.
The future homeowner has been fulfilling her 250 hours of “sweat equity” Habitat requires before she can move into her new house. When that happens, in a month or so, she will assume a mortgage for the price of the land and materials, Rammel explained.
But the labor is free, thanks to the volunteers. To show her appreciation for them, the homeowner stopped by on a break from work earlier in the week to meet the students and bring them lunch.
“We chatted with her,” Powell said, “and she seems like a phenomenal woman.”
While sawing wood and shoveling dirt for five hours a day isn’t easy, the students have become closer despite — or perhaps because of — the tough work. The student groups from Connecticut and Illinois were introduced to each other the first day of the trip and immediately had to start building a home together, a process that requires a certain amount of teamwork.
Installing the cabinets required one person to drill while others held the pieces in place. Creating the driveway meant a few people prepared concrete while the others dug a path for it. Making the wood floor entailed several students sawing floorboards while others tried to fit them together.
“That’s really tricky, because you have to get all the pieces to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle,” North Central College student Grace Barksdale said.
While helping others is the main purpose of the trip, Barksdale said student bonding is another goal. NCC’s student service organization, Break-Away, sends groups of students around the world for alternative spring and summer breaks. But it recently changed its method of accepting students for such trips from a sign-up to an application process to discourage groups of friends from signing up together.
“We wanted to make it less clique-y,” Barksdale said, adding that it promotes Break-Away’s motto of “breaking out of your comfort zone.”
In their free time, the NCC students have been playing games, exploring Wilmington and even finding other volunteer opportunities. Tuesday night, they helped First Baptist Church feed the homeless, which Barksdale said was fun because they helped the church create an Easter theme for the meal with ice cream, cake and decorations.
In addition to their selfless efforts, the students from both schools have found time for a few more traditional spring break activities. They went to Wrightsville Beach one afternoon and they plan to explore the downtown riverfront before they make the 15-hour trip home March 26.
ECSU juniors Katie Wilson and Kristen Humphrey said it was the first time they’d been to the beach since August. And while it wasn’t exactly tropical, it was warmer than home.
“It’s snowing in Connecticut right now!” Humphrey said, laughing.
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