Why Habitat?

Joining and working with Habitat for Humanity can mean a variety of things to each individual. For some, dedicating a Saturday to renovating a home while working with other volunteers and getting to spend time with the actual home owners provides them an opportunity to volunteer, seeing the real and tangible difference they are making in a brief 8 hour build. For others, educating themselves and others about the housing issues that Habitat aims to address is a fulfilling experience because they value the importance of awareness and advocacy. And for still more, just having a friendly and welcoming environment to meet other students with similar interests and curiosity for meeting new people and having fun, while supporting a great cause, is just the right amount of commitment.

The University of Michigan’s Campus Chapter strives to provide a fun and meaningful variety of events and activities for all of our members to participate in, depending on individual goals and desires. No experience is necessary for any of our events, so even if you have never even picked up a hammer or have never heard of “secure tenure” before, be assured that you will be taught how to nail a board or how you can foster positive change in the midst of our housing crisis.

The extent to your involvement is totally up to you, based on your availability and desire to participate. Of course, we encourage you and your friends to get involved with ALL of our events, but we offer flexibility so that we can accommodate you. And don’t forget, the more nails you earn by participating in our events, the more awesome prizes and recognition you will receive from our organization throughout the year!

To name a few of the ways you can get involved…

Join a committee: Work behind the scenes and help organize some of our events! You can join the Fundraising, Publicity, Campus Relations, or Community Relations Committees. For more information, contact the Core member in charge of each committee.
Become a Dorm Rep: As part of the Publicity Committee, you can help us recruit campus participation by advertising in your dorm. Also, try to get your entire hall to participate in this year’s Sleep Out!
Sleep Out: Beginning at 8:00am on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 Habitat for Humanity at UM will be spending 24 hours on the Diag in demonstration of what it might be like to live a day homeless. Help increase awareness about housing issues, promote Habitat, and have fun watching student entertainment groups all day long! And yes, we literally sleep out on the Micigan Diag. Now who wouldn’t want to say they did that!
Volunteer: Volunteer on Saturday Build Days, work at a soup kitchen at the Delonis Community Kitchen, or come to our monthly meetings in order to participate in some form of community service every week or every month. It’s up to you!
Participate in fundraising events: In order to fund construction projects we host various fundraising events all year long. From restaurant nights to a 5k Fun Run in the Arb to playing poker at Casino Night, you and your friends can have fun while supporting a fabulous cause!
Travel: Join our national build trip, Collegiate Challenge, and travel some place warm for Spring Break! More information on where we will be building this spring will be available in late October. Make sure to keep your eyes open, though, because once sign-ups begin, the slots go fast as we can only bring up to 20 volunteers, and it’s a lot of fun so you don’t want to miss out! We also host an international trip, Global Village. This May we will be traveling to Guatemala for the second time. More information will be available soon.