Huntington Habitat for Humanity Club Treks to New Orleans
Reduced to just a few words, the mission of the Huntington High School Habitat for Humanity club is to help people in need. So the members of the group traveled to New Orleans for the second time in less than a year, offering continued assistance to an area and people still suffering from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
The Huntington club is hoping one day to erect a house on its own right here in the community for a family in need of shelter and a “home” and it has raised $20,000 so far to do just that, with ongoing initiatives to raise much more.
The week-long trip south began with a tour of the still visible stunning effects from the path Katrina cut across New Orleans. The Huntington group was then formally welcomed by American Red Cross representatives and spent its first day cleaning one of ARC centers and transporting supplies to a warehouse.
“The next four days were devoted to Musician’s Village, a New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity construction project in the Upper Ninth Ward,” explained Madeleine Jensen, who is co-president of the Huntington club along with classmate Laura Dabrowski.
Club founder Robert Gilmor, who is a dean at Huntington High School, led the group of 18 students and a pair of adult chaperones as they painted the interior and exterior of a house, did finishing work on another property and laid the sub-floors of three homes.
The elevated platforms and floors that the group constructed provided the foundation for the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project in mid-May. This “blitz build” (start to finish) created seven homes, completed 25 homes that were started in 2008, and began work on 25 additional homes.
“It was a great trip,” Mr. Gilmor said. “We always wish we could accomplish more, but it was very worthwhile. We went with a large group and everyone worked.”
In addition to Ms. Jensen, who is valedictorian of the Class of 2008, students on the trip included Zain Aiman, Dan Akerley, Grace Barnard, Erin Brown, Emily Buchholtz, Daniella Charzuk, Max Cohen, William Cohn, Allie Fulton, Jeff Green, Colin Limbach, Catalina Lopez, Becca Melnick, Samuel Sainthil, Theresa Spohrer, Olivia Wyrick and Brian Venturin. They were joined by Huntington business teacher Suzi Biagi and Lisa Jamison from the Family Service League.
Closer to home, the club has been busy with projects on Long Island. This year, club members joined Suffolk Habitat for Humanity for two days of construction on a home in East Patchogue, where they raised the four exterior walls of the home, lifted trestles for the roof, and put up siding. Students had the opportunity to speak to the homeowner, adding a deeper meaning to their experience.
Huntington High School’s Habitat for Humanity club is in the midst of a major fundraising effort to build a home in Huntington, which has been a long-term dream of the group. “With the goal in sight, the club has partnered with four local restaurants—Rookies, Restaurant Joanina, Kura Barn, and Black & Blue Seafood Chophouse—in a ‘savor the flavors of Huntington’ program to build community awareness and work toward raising the remaining funds necessary for construction,” Ms. Jensen said.
The restaurants will each donate 20 percent of their sales on specific evenings in June to the Huntington High School chapter of Habitat for Humanity (Rookies, Tuesday, June 3; Restaurant Joanina, Tuesday, June 10; Kura Barn, Thursday, June 12, and Black & Blue Seafood Chophouse, Tuesday, June 17).
In addition to the $20,000 it already has in hand, the club is hoping to raise another $40,000 to help fund construction of the house they want to build in Huntington. Community members willing to help the club reach its goals are encouraged to contact Mr. Gilmor at rgilmor@hufsd.edu.
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