Building homes. Helping families. Volunteering in the community. Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat for humanity is a club that gets involved in our community by building houses for low income families. The club started in 2009 and meets every second and fourth Wednesday before and after school.

“I wanted to get involved in the community,” senior Nicole Laird said. “And I wanted to learn new things.”

The club participates in several builds and works with the Habitat for Humanity Restore in Georgetown, a non-profit program that helps create homes for families in our area.

“Because of the opportunities, it gets people involved in the community,” Laird said. “And be able to learn new things.”

Photo by Rob Snyder
Senior Kathryn Pham joined last year and believes the club provides opportunities and experience for kids to go out and help.

“For me right now I am the head of fundraising,” Pham said. “And I want to do a big fundraising to get the club started.”

Senior Samantha Hull is the vice president of the club and joined last year to get involved in the community and help families in need.

“I hope to get involved in my community,” Hull said. “And help shape the lives of those in need.”

The club, sponsored by Robert Snyder and Sharon Schwab, brings awareness to homelessness and substandard housing through events such as Shack-A-Thon.

“Because homelessness and sub standardized housing and that is such a big problem in Williamson,” Snyder said. “And kids can go out and feel like they made an impact.”

Shack-A-Thon is an event where students collect materials that could be easily found if you were homeless. The students then take the materials and construct a temporary shelter where they will sleep over night.

“We just kind of get together, hang out, have fun, and share the experience,” Snyder said. “And kids get to kind of find out what it’s like to spend the night outside when you don’t really have a house.”

The shelters that students build are awarded in the morning for things such as stability, creativity, and the most aesthetically pleasing. This year’s Shack-A-Thon was originally scheduled for April 29, but was moved to May 13.

“It’s not about making a kid feel like what it’s like to be homeless because you can’t experience that in a one night kind of thing but it’s more about getting you know that, raising awareness,” Snyder said. “Like you know what I spent the whole night outside by myself, while with a group of friends, but it wasn’t great.”

In addition to an October build, the club also recently helped with a lot clearing to help prepare the land for the house. In late April, the students cleared brush and trashed off the lot.

“I think it’s important because it gets people thinking about more than just themselves,” Hull said. “And how they can help people.”