One group at ETSU is doing their part to help the community and the area around them and even earning some campus accolades on the side.
The Construction Manage- ment Association has been making efforts to make repairs and even rebuild parts of at least one home a semester.
The idea began at the beginning of last year, when Jim Carlton, the club’s secretary, brought a situation to the group of a woman with two children who had the back end of her trailer washed out.
The group, working with materials donated from Home Depot, rebuilt the floor during free weekends.
According to Tim Leonard, vice president of CMA, this was one of the most rewarding experiences of his life.
“Just seeing that and how rewarding it was, the leader of the club decided this was something we wanted to do every semester,” he said.
Leonard said that normally the supplies and materials to do these repairs are donated from either Home Depot or Lowe’s because the club is a non-profit organization.
“This is all completely volunteer labor,” he said.
There is currently a project waiting in the wings that the group is attempting to do. A disabled man in Erwin needs a ramp built onto his house.
Leonard said the materials should be taken care of by Home Depot, but the weather has not cooperated in allowing them an opportunity to work on the home.
CMA is made up of students majoring in engineering technology with a construction science emphasis. They generally learn about the group and membership in it during their freshman level courses.
“When they come and see what we’re all about, they generally get excited about it,” Leonard said.
The group also received campus honors in October when they placed first in the canned food creation competition in the independent category, working in conjunction with the Student Association for Young Children.
The idea for the winning pirate ship came from CMA member Will Crumley due to the Buccaneer Treasure Homecoming theme.
The group collected between $300 and $400 dollars worth of donations and cans for the project.
Leonard said that the donations came from various places, including sponsors, members and teachers. He actually went door to door in his neighborhood asking for contributions.
“It was a lot of time and a lot of money,” said Dr. Linda Garceau, dean of the College of Business and Technology.
The group is also one of the organizers of the Jeopardy parody that is taking place Monday in the Culp Center auditorium at 1:30 p.m to 5 p.m.
The contest will be between students and faculty in the College of Business and Technology.
“We’re actually hoping it’s something that turns out to be a competition between the different schools,” Leonard said.
Leonard said that the club is very family-oriented due to the fact that many of the members are older and non-traditional, many with families of their own.
He said that many of the activities the group has include the families of the members’ attending, such as the tailgate party that the group organized a few weeks ago.
He said that having older members is a good thing because it gives the younger students someone to learn from.
He said that younger students look at the older members and say, “If they can do it, then I can do it.”
He said that many of the older students had also been out in the field, so they had a lot more experience when it comes to the projects that the group handles.
“Almost everyone in our major has some kind of building experience,” Leonard said.
He said that if anyone knows of any projects that need to be done to homes in the area, they should contact him at ltim1973@aol.com. He asked the projects be from those who are legitimately in need of help and unable to manage on their own.
“It’s what you do in the community and what you give back to the area,” he said.

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