NC State Habitat Chapter

The NC State Habitat chapter was founded in and built its first Habitat Wake home in 1991. The collegiate chapter has since worked on more than 20 houses in Wake County. (It is now one of more than 500 campus chapters of Habitat for Humanity worldwide.)

Students organize weekly Saturday construction groups and produce two popular annual events that raise awareness of the need for affordable housing as well as raise money for the Chapter to sponsor homes: Shack-A-Thon (September in the Brickyard behind D.H. Hill Library) and House Your Neighbor 5K Race and Fun Run (Earth Day weekend on Centennial Campus).

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NC State House Your Neighbor 5K Race and Fun Run

All proceeds of the 9th annual House Your Neighbor 5K Race and Fun Run held Saturday, April 19, will be donated to Habitat for Humanity to build homes for people in need in the US and around the World. With popularity increasing, the race was expected to attract 500 participants. (The event raised $8,600 in 2007.)

In addition to holding the 5K race, there was a Fun Run held immediately afterwards. A one mile trot, this race was perfect for those not quite up to running a 5K but still looking to donate and get involved in some way.

The course ran through Centennial Campus. The starting line was at 1005 Capability Drive. It's USATF Certified Course #NC04013PH. A course map shows the path; it's asphalt and includes some hills both steep and rolling.

NC State Shack A Thon 2007

At Shack-A-Thon 2007 student organizations competed for the opportunity to build one of 16 "shacks" from scrap material in the Brickyard. For a week in late September, the students asked passersby for spare change.







Through advance fundraising and the week-long, around-the-clock event, the Chapter raised $25,885.42.This effort topped the $20,217.81 raised in 2006. All money will be used to sponsor Habitat homes in Wake County.


Advocacy and Outreach Projects in 2007

NC State Habitat joined other collegiate Habitat chapters for Celebrate Act! Speak! Build! Week March 31 - April 6. As part of Habitat for Humanity International's advocacy efforts, chapter members visited schools to talked about Habitat's mission and to engage middle and elementary-aged children in short Habitat related projects including coloring and craft projects.

In May, the chapter sent a construction team to Guatemala for a week.

Homes Built in 2007

In 2007, Habitat Wake recognized the NC State Habitat Chapter with two awards:

2007 Outstanding DeConstruction Group Volunteer
2007 Construction Group Volunteer

During the school year, NC State’s Habitat Chapter came out in force every Saturday to volunteer with the Habitat's DeConstruction program. No matter what the task at hand is, NC State students are always up for the job and approach the work with enthusiasm and a general spirit of cooperation. The students from NC State pushed Habitat Wake days ahead of schedule on full DeCon projects and helped us make the most of our Saturday strip-outs. Their skills and internal leadership have enabled us to run two separate DeCon job sites at once.

The NC State Habitat Chapter has remained one of the fiercest supporters and contributors to the Habitat Wake mission since 1991. Every school year, the collegians raise funds, recruit volunteers and help to build multiple homes in Wake County. Being a group of young, motivated and compassionate individuals, the group as a whole provides tremendous manpower on the construction site, working on at least 20 homes in the past 16 years. Habitat Wake anticipates exanding our homebuilding capacity, relying on the continued support of the collegians’ leadership and lifting them up as examples to other local schools and universities.

Photos of four of the many houses the NC State Habitat Chapter helped build in 2007 follow:

Candid Photos