What started as a class project has become a home for a family in need, thanks to 1,600 hours of effort and $25,000 in donations. Mon County Habitat for Humanity will hand over the House That WVU Built on Saturday, June 1.
What started in 2010 as a group assignment in Barbara Lingle’s professional practice design and merchandising class quickly turned into an all-out philanthropic campaign.
Lingle offered her students the option of creating a project instead of taking a test. They had to design a fundraising campaign for a charitable organization in the Morgantown area. So West Virginia University students presented Lingle with a long-term project that they dubbed: “The House That WVU Built.
Then, students in Rita Colistra’s public relations capstone class worked to raise awareness and involvement and fundraise around the WVU campus for the campaign.
Over the course of three years, approximately 1,600 community service hours were provided by WVU groups, clubs and classes, including the WVU Habitat for Humanity Chapter, and Lingle and Colistra’s classes.
A group of employees from Patient Financial Services represented WVU Healthcare during 2012 Habitat for Humanity’s National Women Build Week. The WVU community has raised $25,000 of the $81,285 needed to complete 593 Dunn Street. The donations were through gift-in-kind and individual donations.
Habitat will dedicate the house and welcome its occupants, the Blake/Morel family, at a dedication on 10 a.m. Saturday. The event is open to the public.
