This fall ETSU students and faculty will team up with Holston Habitat for Humanity for the second time to build someone a family home.
Habitat is dedicating this semester to fundraising with many events already planned including everything from basketball games to dinners. Each home costs around $35,000 to build and is mainly funded through these events.
Due to the success of student participation last year, the ETSU Council for Habitat for Humanity has been created. It will allow students to take an active and important role in the planning, organization, and implementation of the project in conjunction with the Steering Committee. The organization will be open to all ETSU students.
Groundbreaking for the new home will start in August. The intent is to dedicate the new home the Monday of Thanksgiving week. A location has not been selected yet but will be announced at a later date.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for all ETSU students to join together to give a family a house to become a home,” said Jerry Everley, the non-ETSU faculty advisor of the Wesley Foundation.
The project began last year when campus ministers met with the director of Habitat for Humanity. They then sent out an e-mail looking for faculty members that would be interested in helping. After they received a large amount of replies, the entire project entered the planning phase.
The first home was started early last fall and was constructed with more than 300 student and faculty volunteers. It was partly funded from over 30 on-campus student organizations including the campus ministries and athletic teams.
Volunteers put up the walls, put on the roof and the siding and the basketball team did the landscaping. During what they called a “weekend blitz,” both the walls and the roof were finished in three days which caused the house to be completed ahead of schedule.
The home was constructed in Johnson City and dedicated on Oct. 24 to a single mother with three children. The dedication was in conjunction with other Homecoming events.
Jeff Anderson, Vice President of University Advancement, is the co-chair of the steering committee. If you’re interested in being involved with the ETSU Council for Habitat for Humanity you can contact Wyeth Lawson at lawsonwa@etsu.edu.
For more information about volunteering you can contact Teresa Brooks-Taylor, the Assistant Director of Community Engagement, at taylort@etsu.edu. For more information about fundraising contact Kim Bushore-Maki at bushorem@etsu.edu. For more information about the project contact Dr. Joyce Duncan at duncanj@etsu.edu.
“This has been a wonderful project for uniting ETSU students, faculty, and staff with the community in providing safe and affordable housing for those who need,” Duncan said.

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