Hoos i er s ,Hel pi ngHomes
APubl i cRel at i onsCampai gnpr opos alf orHabi t atf orHumani t y
By : Al e x i sF i s hman( l e ade r ) , Br i annaSe ar l e s , Mi l anaKat i c , Anni e Be t t i , El i z abe t hMc Gr at h
T abl eOfCont e nt s Ex e c ut i v eSummar y
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Si t uat i onAnal y s i s
27
SWOTGr i d
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Re s e ar c hPl an
8
Re s e ar c hAnal y s i s
910
Campai g nPl an
1113
T i me t abl e
14
Campai g nEv al uat i onPl an
15
Appe ndi c e s
1628
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Students at Indiana University are looking for ways to get involved for numerous reasons and Habitat for Humanity can help them out. The overall goal for our campaign is to aid Habitat for Humanity in creating new and effective ways to adequately inform those students about how they can get involved with the organization specifically. To do so, we have devised five primary objectives: to increase awareness of Habitat for Humanity in order to increase student involvement, recruit volunteers to build homes in Monroe County, solicit an outdoor concert event where volunteers will build homes concurrently, evolve a compassionate work environment for the current staff and potential volunteers, and provide support and advice to current Habitat for Humanity homeowners. According to our extensive research, we have come to the conclusion that the biggest obstacle Habitat for Humanity has to overcome is to simply give students the information and opportunity to get involved through a number of strategic approaches: promoting Habitat for Humanity through social media, anecdotal videos and pictures, contacting local artists for the promotional concert, providing adequate training to volunteers and keeping contact with families in order to distribute updates for volunteers. Our public at large is undergraduates at Indiana University that we have broken into smaller demographics in order to best reach a maximum number of persons. These demographics include sports teams, dorm floors, campus organizations, the Greek system, prospective employees, and current volunteers. We believe our team has conducted adequate research that has evolved into a campaign that will effectively reach a public that is continuously asked to join organizations. Our team has conducted key tactics that will appeal and speak to a variety of publics and ultimately help Habitat for Humanity grow into an even stronger organization.
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SITUATION ANALYSIS
How did the client arrive at its current position? Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller. It was created at Koinonia Farm, a small, interracial, Christian community outside of Americus, Georgia. The Fullers left a successful business in Montgomery, Alabama to begin a new life of Christian service, and went to Koinona and developed the concept of “partnership housing.” The concept centered on those in need of adequate shelter working side by side with volunteers to build simple, decent houses. Habitat for Humanity has built more than 400,000 houses, sheltering more than 2 million people all over the world.
What is evident about previous client campaigns? Habitat for Humanity has a history of very successful campaigns. These campaigns have been on both national and worldwide levels and have provided funds, homes, and volunteers throughout the years. The following projects are a selection from these campaigns that provide an overview of effective strategies that our team will follow. Starting in 1984, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project has been an annual, international week of building that brings attention to Habitat’s mission to provide decent, affordable housing for families in need, each year being held at a different location. In 2012 it will be held in Haiti the week of November 5 through November 12 building earthquake-resistant homes. Along with promoting peace and human rights through the Carter Center in Atlanta, each year the Carters give a week of their time to build homes and raise awareness of critical need for affordable housing (See Appendix A). World Habitat Day is a day of grassroots action in every State in America and over 40 countries in
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order to eradicate poverty housing. Over six weeks Habitat for Humanity provides special events that help raise awareness to the current global state of poverty, work towards housing for all by establishing homes for impoverished families (See Appendix A). Home Builders is a partnership between Habitat for Humanity associates and the local building community to make sure more families have a chance to own a simple, decent house. Home Builders’ Blitz 2012 is endorsed by the National Association of Home Builders. Habitat for Humanity secures land for the build and manages site development. Additionally, they provide house plans, obtain permits for the homes, provide fundraising publicity and marketing support, and select the homeowners based on Habitat’s family selection criteria. Habitat on the Hill is Habitat for Humanity International’s sixth annual advocacy and legislative conference. It collectively brings hundreds of Habitat leaders, advocates, volunteers and supporters from across the country to sharpen their advocacy talents and address Congress about the concerns that genuinely matter to Habitat. These campaigns bring awareness of Habitat for Humanity’s mission, work, and brand, while making homes for families who need them. The many volunteers are what make these campaigns as well as Habitat for Humanity effective worldwide. A good campaign eventually will benefit the local community and gain volunteers who share these values.
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SWOT GRID STRENGTHS • • • • • • • • • •
Christian Organization (therefore can appeal to Christians) International Organization (they build all over the world) Also local organizations Large Volunteer base Have a lot of allies (have a lot of big organizations that help them) Celebrity support Focus on shelter Advocate for affordable housing Promote dignity and hope Support sustainable and transformational development
WEAKNESSES • • • •
Christian organization (people who aren’t Christian might be less likely to be involved) Not responding to US disaster areas quick enough (Katrina Example) Working through local affiliates slows decision making Very regimented in their construction practices
OPPORTUNITY • • •
• • • • • •
Engaged in multi media (magazine, blogs) Organization on campus (offer spring break trips) Events (Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, World Habitat day, Home Builders Blitz 2012 and several ongoing local events). Corporate philanthropy partners Churches Cause Marketing Partnerships Government Partnerships Sustainable Construction International housing finance
THREATS • • • • •
Lack of funding Social unrest in the countries where the organization is represented Natural disasters Losing donors Losing partnerships
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How are the audiences currently defined? While Habitat has many different and diverse audiences, one of the primary audiences is the volunteer base. They are the physical supporters of the organization, and they provide the labor and support for those who need it. Another important audience for Habitat is the clients; without a client base, the organization would lose the primary beneficiaries of what they produce and whom they are aiming to serve. This is an audience that stands throughout the entirety of the world since Habitat is a global organization that aims to serve as many people as they can reach. Additionally, being that Habitat for Humanity is a known Christian organization, the support it gains from its Christian following is very prevalent and valuable. Some other audiences of the organization would include the corporations that support it, philanthropies, cause marketing partnerships, the government, other nongovernmental organizations, and multilateral organizations all over the country and world.
What are the current messages? As it currently stands, Habitat for Humanity’s mission statement is: “Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.” Although the company is a religious based organization, it spans its message to the world as a whole and seeks to extend their message to as many as they can without excluding anyone or making them feel uncomfortable. They seek to do this by allowing anyone to volunteer, donate, or most importantly, apply to receive a home. Overall, Habitat’s current message has worked in their favor thus far and has been able to extend a lot further than the small-scale farm project that it started as.
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Conclusions drawn from the SWOT analysis Essentially, Habitat for Humanity’s biggest strengths stem from its company values which focus on shelter, advocate for affordable housing, promote dignity and hope and support sustainable and transformational development for any family in need. In addition, Habitat for Humanity has a large volunteer base which not only stretches across North America with many locally run branches, but also internationally in every country for which they build—clearly proving to be one of the organization’s most valuable publics. One of their most impressive strengths is that they are a Christian Organization, making them appeal to all practitioners of Christianity and additionally building even more public support to succeed as an nonprofit; but unfortunately, Habitat for Humanity’s Christian fundamentals also double as a weakness for the organization, failing to appeal as much to people of other faiths. Along with that, the company suffers from occasional slow responses to national disasters in the United States—slowly handling the Gulf housing projects after Katrina a perfect example of this, where they were not as organized or as willing to change their construction process to more effectively solve the issue, causing Habitat for Humanity to upset a few of its publics, most namely the families for which they build. Operating through mostly local affiliates, too, can lead to slow decision-making—another weakness of the company. Some threats to Habitat for Humanity include social unrest and natural disasters in internationally based factions impeding the company’s building progress, losing partnerships and losing donors. As a non-profit, though, the most prevalent threat to Habitat for Humanity is lack of funding. Lack of funding means there is a lack of donating publics, which would be unfortunate in its own right, but it also can lead to a lack of gaining publics in the future with an eventual decrease of circulation and volunteer events. These threats however, can be offset by the company’s numerous opportunities--most of which come from their
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various partnerships with their publics of corporate philanthropies, churches, cause marketing, media and entertainment and the government. As mentioned earlier, Habitat for Humanity also sponsors several different events such as the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, World Habitat Day, and the more recent Home Builders’ Blitz 2012 and Habitat on the Hill 2012. These events, along with several locally sponsored ones open Habitat for Humanity to a variety of opportunities to ultimately help the company to continuously grow by reaching several more audiences. Even though Habitat for Humanity is doing a number of things to gain new publics while maintaining the support it already has, one of the most important things that this SWOT analysis reveals is that Habitat for Humanity still has a number of audiences still to reach, such as college students, who oftentimes are so close to a division of Habitat for Humanity, but remain uninformed as to how to get involved.
What questions remain to be answered with new research? After looking at the SWOT analysis we discovered that some questions still remain unanswered mainly dealing with the college based clientele that to whom we are trying to appeal. Through new primary research of this public we seek to answer a series of questions. To begin, what can Habitat for Humanity do to maintain the college student volunteer base that they currently have established? In addition, what are college students looking for in a service-based organization like Habitat for Humanity, and why aren’t they getting involved currently? Furthermore, we will look to answer how Habitat for Humanity can better reach college students in order to expand their volunteer base and its message to reach and connect with this community.
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RESEARCH PLAN Although Habitat for Humanity is a nationally and worldwide known organization, there are still aspects of this corporation that need to be further researched. Indiana University has a local Habitat for Humanity chapter. Approximately 50 students participate or have participated in this organization through Indiana University. Our goal is to get more students involved in Habitat for Humanity during their college years. By understanding the reasons why students do not volunteer or participate in Habitat for Humanity’s special events, we hope to find the best way for this demographic to get involved. What our team does not know are the key reasons why students are not involved. We also do not know about any current campaigns that Habitat Humanity has on campus. We need to confirm why the students who volunteer choose to volunteer as well as confirm how to use social media to get this demographics attention. The quantitative research tools our group is going to use are surveys and questionnaires (see Appendix B). We are going to hand out surveys around campus in an attempt to gain different demographics. Furthermore, we will post our survey on Facebook to reach out to Indiana students through the social media platform. The qualitative research tools we are going to use are interviews. Additionally, we are going to interview Cherryl Ellison, president of Indiana University’s Habitat for Humanity for the 2012-2013 school year. Our group will also interview a staff member from the Monroe County Habitat for Humanity to better understand the organization as a whole. Moreover, we are going to interview students who have participated in this organization as well as taken the alternative spring break trip in New Orleans to discover how and why they got involved. By conducting these interviews and surveys, we should be able to form an adequate understanding of how to best move forward with our plan to increase undergraduate student involvement.
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RESEARCH ANALYSIS For our demographic audience we chose to look at undergraduate college students ages 18-23 at Indiana University. We distributed a random survey that coincidently more sophomores were willing to take. Due to their class standing, we believe they have more opportunity to get involved long term in this organization, which may have led to their increased response. We also used the seniors that filled out the survey to reflect on what Habitat for Humanity could have done to get them involved during their undergraduate career (See Appendices C & D). Our research has shown that most students have heard about Habitat for Humanity and know what it does. From this we can conclude that our clients’ primary problem is not that they do not know what the organization is, but rather that students’ lack of motivation and lack of knowledge of how to get involved is the obstacle, as shown in Graphs 1 and 2. We also conducted interviews with several students involved as well as an employee from the Monroe County Habitat for Humanity to discover what gets students involved in Habitat for Humanity (see Appendices E-H). From these interviews we were able to realize again, that it’s not a lack of knowledge about the organization that is hindering student involvement, it is more so a lack of motivation combined with a lack of information on how to get involved. These interviews provided us with insight on how students have gotten involved with Habitat for Humanity either on their own or with a group of students. This information allowed our group to draw conclusions as to how to best solve the issue of the lack of undergraduate student involvement.
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Graph 1
Knowledge of Habitat for Humanity
Have heard about it and knows what it does Have heard about it, but doesn't know what it does Has never heard about it
91%
Graph 2
Have you ever been involved with Habitat for Humanity? If not, why?
No, no reason
20% 25%
No, don't know how to get involved No, not enough time
6%
No, but would like to be involved
6%
18% 25%
No, other reason Has been involved
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CAMPAIGN PLAN Objectives and Strategies: Since our research demonstrates that many students simply do not know how to get involved with Habitat for Humanity as an undergraduate, our first objective is to increase awareness on Indiana University’s campus so that more students will want to volunteer. To do this we will post flyers around campus, send out a series of emails to the entire undergraduate student body, and utilize social media such as Facebook and Twitter with daily updates as a way to quickly and efficiently reach our target audiences. Our second objective is to recruit approximately 75 new volunteers to help build homes in Monroe County since we have seen that there currently are not an incredibly large number of student volunteers. We are going to promote Habitat for Humanity to students by showcasing videos, pictures, and volunteer anecdotes that adequately demonstrate the numerous benefits from joining the organization from those already in it. This effort will culminate through a large concert event at Dunn Meadow in the fall that is open to all undergraduate students that we will also promote by using social media. This leads to our third objective. This objective is to have local bands perform at the free all-day music festival while volunteers and Indiana University students build homes and sheds. To achieve this, we will reach out to the bands via social media and email. Fourth, since our research subjects indicated a lack of motivation to return to volunteer, we will strive to create a work environment that values the high loyalty that is Habitat for Humanity’s mission, goals, and achievements all while meeting the needs of staff and volunteers by treating them fairly, providing training, and developing incentives and rewards for top volunteers. Finally, because several student responses indicated poor incentive to join due to a lack of an emotional connection to the organization, our last objective will aim to provide support and advice to current Habitat for Humanity home owners for whatever they might need by keeping in contact with families, sending out
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monthly emails, and checking in to make sure that they are doing well; this information will then be relayed back to our volunteers in the form of a biannual newsletter to retain the emotional connection for which they strive.
Key messages and Tactics: Habitat for Humanity is a resume builder for our student public as the volunteer experience will set students apart from other applicants for jobs and graduate positions. Companies and graduate programs will recognize their service to a world-renowned non-profit organization, which makes student volunteers stand out. The first tactic to reach this public is to offer the students positions to plan student construction events allowing them to put leadership experience on their resume. In addition, students live in Bloomington for four years and should give back to the community they call home for that period of time. To best send this message of giving back, we will have the alumni organizations send personalized emails to the entire undergraduate student body advocating the importance of becoming an active member of the community. This provides access to the entire public from a different angle as well as provides an emotional reason to get involved. Constructing a house is a unique, team-building activity for any on-campus organization that only Habitat for Humanity can provide. In particular, we are going to reach out to IU sports athletic teams asking them to volunteer one Saturday as an alternative team-building experience. This tactic will also be a great advertisement for Habitat for Humanity as college sports teams are community recognized. The ethos of our large campaign is that by donating one Saturday of a student’s college career any student will change the life of a family. At the kiosk at the Student Involvement Fair in September, we will preach this message to the students that are looking to get involved as a way to pull at the heartstrings of potential volunteers and give them a personal reason to join. Furthermore, students can prepare for Spring Break and summer
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by training to run in the 5K Race. Many students do not know about this option and they can apply it to their workout routine. After speaking with students who are members of the Greek system about Habitat for Humanity’s alternative spring break (see Appendix G) we decided to get in contact with the Greek System to organize alternative spring breaks with different Greek chapters that are willing to participate.
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TIMETABLE August 15, 2012 Post flyers around campus to generate awareness
S
r ta
October 26, 2012 Event in Dunn Meadow to raise awareness
November 15, 2012 Rake-a-thon
January 15, 2013 Call out meeting for more members second semester
December 9, 2012 Send out mass emails and post on Facebook about spring break trips
t Sept. 10, 2012- Booth at Involvement fair to generate student interest
June-August 2012 speak at freshman orientation
Febuary 1, 2013 Final deposit for spring break trip
Febuary 12, 2013 Contact families for nesletter
November 4, 2012 Homecoming float
March 15, 2013 Paint Jordan Bridges for 5K
November 20, 2012 Send out Newsletters about families
March 23, 2013 5K Race
December 14, 2012 Build day
January 20, 2013 Pep Rally with raffles
April 26, 2013 End of the year concert to raise money
En Febuary 10, 2013 Start greek initiative
March 8 2013 Alternative Spring break trip
March 16, 2013 Hang up flyers and chalk for 5K
April 11, 2013 Build day with basketball team
May 10 send out Newsletter about families
d
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CAMPAIGN EVALUATION PLAN Our first objective to increase awareness for Habitat for Humanity among undergraduate students at Indiana University will be measured initially by the amount of student contact information we can garner from our circulating sign up lists during freshman orientation and the student involvement fair. From this point we can measure how many people actually show up to our first call out meeting in September and later in how many people join. This will confirm how successful we were in our initial attempt to raise awareness by using flyers, social media, and speaking at campus events. Another easily measured objective is to see how many people attend our outdoor festival at the end of October as well as our Rakea-Thon in November, alternative Spring Break trip, and 5K race at the end of March. Judging the size of the crowds after each event, we will see if we are successful in our endeavors or if we need to come up with different strategies. In order to help create a work environment that inspires commitment from our current employees and volunteers, we will send out a staff survey to obtain feedback from our members on what is working and what we can improve for the future in order to keep them as staff members and to create a welcoming environment for future members. Finally our last measurable objective is to create a network of our past clients who are now homeowners. With this we will be able to create a bi-annual newsletter to send to our volunteers and employees to help them build a better connection with the work that they have accomplished.
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APPENDICES Appendix A Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project This event is an annual, internationally-recognized week of building that brings the attention to the need for simple, decent affordable housing in partnership with low-income families. Each year it is held at a different location and affects volunteers from around the world. Along with promoting peace and human rights through the Carter Center in Atlanta, each year the Carters give a week of their time to build homes and raise awareness of critical need for affordable housing. World Habitat Day World Habitat Day, Oct. 3, 2011, is a day of grassroots action to unite our efforts to eradicate poverty housing. Habitat for Humanity engages in a series of special activities over six weeks to highlight the need for safe, decent and affordable shelter. The purpose of World Habitat Day is to help raise awareness to the current global state of the human habitat, to push toward sufficient housing for all, to dismantle and modify the systems that strengthen and establish poverty housing. The four primary events are: World Habitat Day: Habitat organizations in every U.S. state and in more than 40 other countries around the world will organize local World Habitat Day events throughout October. Build Hope, An Evening Honoring Humanitarian Leadership: An evening event with dinner, entertainment and remarks from special guests will be held on Thursday, Oct. 6 in Washington, D.C. Build Hope will focus attention on World Habitat Day and will emphasize Habitat’s post disaster recovery work in Haiti. The event will also launch Habitat’s flagship annual event, the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. Habitat’s 28th Annual Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project: This event will be held in Haiti, Nov. 5-12, as the culmination of Habitat’s observance of World Habitat Day. Carter Work Project volunteers will build 100 earthquake-resistant homes in the city of Léogâne — considered to be the epicenter of the January 2010 earthquake. Habitat’s Milestone Houses: Habitat for Humanity will mark a major milestone Oct. 3rd when it dedicates its 500,000th house in Maai Mahiu, Kenya, and begins construction on its 500,001st house in Paterson, N.J. Volunteers and homeowners are joining Habitat for Humanity Kenya and Paterson Habitat for Humanity in celebrating the milestones as part of events being held worldwide to mark World Habitat Day. Home Builders Blitz 2012 Home Builders is a partnership between Habitat for Humanity associates and the local building community to make sure more families have a chance to own a simple, decent house. Home Builders Blitz 2012 is endorsed by the National Association of Home Builders. Habitat for Humanity secures land for the build and manage site development, they provide house plans, obtain permits for the homes, provide fundraising publicity and marketing support, and select the homeowners based on Habitat’s family selection criteria.
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2012 Habitat on the Hill Habitat on the Hill is Habitat for Humanity International’s sixth annual advocacy and legislative conference. It brings collectively hundreds of Habitat leaders, advocates volunteers and supporters from across the country to sharpen their advocacy talents and tell Congress about the concerns that genuinely matter to Habitat.
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Appendix B Habitat for Humanity Student Questionnaire 1. What is your current class standing? a. Freshman b. Sophomore c. Junior d. Senior 2. Gender? a. Male b. Female 3. Have you heard of Habitat for Humanity? If yes, briefly explain what it does? 4. Have you ever been involved in Habitat for Humanity? If no, is there any specific reason why? 5. What do you think could get you involved in an organization like this and what things could Habitat Humanity do to want you get involved? Would you ever consider volunteering for Habitat for Humanity?
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Appendix C
Year in School
23%
18% Freshman Sophomore
20%
Junior
39%
Senior
Gender
44% 56%
Male Female
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Appendix D Question 5 from our survey What do you think could get you involved in an organization like this and what things could Habitat for Humanity do to make you want to get involved? Would you ever consider volunteering? •
I would do it again, need more information. Only saw Habitat signs during tailgate.
•
I enjoy volunteering and would do it more often if more of my friends did it.
•
I would consider it, but I think I would have to find friends to do it with me.
•
I'd consider it! If they do a better job of promoting it and making ready opportunities for college students.
•
I think if able to build connections with people and know whom I am helping, that would be huge for me. Cost is pretty big too. I don't know how much it cost but I do know that I don't have much money so it prevents me from doing a lot.
•
I just never really knew anything about it. I would probably help out if I just had more time. More advertising or promotion in the Greek community especially would probably help get volunteers.
•
I would get involved if I knew more about the program and where to start. Also, stories from the people getting the houses would also help me to make a connection with them.
•
Have more people on campus talking about it and promoting it. The one time I did a build I feel like I found out about it randomly through a friend last minute. I love volunteering for Habitat and would do every weekend if my schedule allowed it.
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Appendix E Cherryl Ellison Interview (Transcribed) What is Habitat for Humanity? Habitat for Humanity basically what they do is they work with homeowners. They work with a certain group of people that don’t apply for section eight housing and have to pay way to much for other groups of housing and that aren’t getting the right kind of housing. So what habitat does is it’s not a hand out, we’re not just giving them a house. They have to put in 250 hours of service, each adult member of their household does. They also have to pay not interest mortgage so they’re paying for their house. They build their own house along with volunteers, so it’s just a really great program for people that don’t apply for section eight housing and other government programs. It’s a hand up instead of a hand out. What is your role in Habitat for Humanity? I am a major events director for Habitat for Humanity’s campus chapter. How long have you been involved? This is my first year with the campus chapter, but I did a lot for my high school chapter as well. What is your year in school? I’m a freshman How did you get involved for Habitat for Humanity? I did a lot with my high school chapter. They were the biggest high school chapter in the country. They’ve built eleven homes in eleven years. That’s really great. So when I came here I wanted to get involved so I just ran for a position and I got it. What is your role as the special events director? So I’m in charge of the 5K, which was this past Saturday. We just had a 5K run/walk. We had about 200 people come out. We made 25 hundred dollars and that will all go to Monroe Habitat for Humanity. What is your favorite part about being involved in Habitat for Humanity? Meeting homeowners is really great. Just seeing their gratitude and meeting them and hearing their stories is so great. I met people who had to live with their children in vans in California for years and hearing their stories is so heartbreaking and just knowing that their going to get houses is so great to hear. What do you think about the students who are involved? They’re all really great. I’ve made some of the best friends both in High School and in college. I’ve made some of the best friends I’ve had through habitat. What do you think is the best reason for other students to get involved with Habitat for Humanity? It’s just a really rewarding experience. You can learn a lot of practical skills. You can learn how to build. If you want to get involved with a board position you can learn a lot about how to direct major events, learn about financial skills. There’s just anything you want to learn you can learn from habitat.
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Are there any current campaigns going on that you’re excited about? Mhm. Coming up next week we have Act Build Speak Week. We’re going to be building a shed on campus will have posters coming up announcing that all over campus. I’m sure you’ll hear about it. Will also be having a panel discussion on Monday April 2nd. We’re going to be having people from Habitat international coming down for our panel discussion. It will be really great to just talk about poverty housing internationally and in Monroe county as well. Would you like to see more students getting involved? Absolutely we need as many people as we can within our campus chapter. The more the merrier. Anyone can help. Do you have any good ideas on how to get more students involved? No, I guess just more publicity. Put up more flyers, more chalking. I mean it’s always been kind of a problem getting more people involved. Just tell all your friends.
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Appendix F Cassidhe Hart Interview (Transcribed) Briefly explain what Habitat for Humanity is? Habitat for Humanity is a non –profit organization that works through out the country and around the world. We have a program that families apply for and they can work with us to buy a home through us. They purchase the home with a zero interest mortgage that they then pay back and we build their houses with them they put in sweat equity hours to build their homes and we build their homes with volunteers. What us your role in Habitat for Humanity? I am the receptionist so I receive things. I receive people and put them to the right people. I receive information and get that information out to the board members and volunteers. I take care of communications through out the community. How did you start to get involved with Habitat for Humanity? I actually was involved with habitat back when I was in high school my mom did some stuff with habitat and so I sort of tagged along a little bit. I wasn’t old enough to build on site but I did some work in the office and I helped prepare food one time for an event, so I kind of understood what habitat was and then this job opening became available and I said hey I would love to be able to work with Habitat on a regular basis. What do you think are the benefits of a college student getting involved? The great thing about college students being involved in any kind of non-profit organization is that college is such a questioning and growing time and so college students bring a really fresh attitude to whatever it is that we are doing. They bring new ideas and new energy, new concepts that we can say oh hey that’s a great way of doing that, that we just haven’t thought of before and that energy is something that you can’t manufacture, so it’s great to have college students be apart of it for that reason Do you have any good ideas to get more students involved on campus? I don’t necessarily have any great ideas. A lot of it is just knowing that something is there. A think a lot of times people don’t help, it’s not that they don’t care. It’s just that they don’t know. Raising awareness is one of the most important things and knowing that we do want people of all ages to participate. You know even if you’re only here for a year we don’t care. That’s great come help us out when you can. Have you helped build a house? I’ve done some work on building houses. We have staff building days, so actually we had one this past Tuesday. So we went out and were working on houses and I was putting on a bathroom floor, which I had never done before, but they taught me how to do it though. So I mean that’s the thing is that I’ve never hung cabinets. I learned how to hang cabinets! I had never you know put foam into these little nooks and crannies, but I learned how to do it. How would you describe your experience working with the families? I have been through the entire process now. I just started working here in September so I haven’t been working here super long, but in October I wrote what we call a vignette for a family, so it’s just their story,
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who they are, what they’re doing, and what we do at the very beginning once they’ve been accepted into the program. Once they’ve gotten a lot offering we write a vignette so that the community knows who they are and who it is that they are helping out, and then they help out on this house. I wrote a vignette for a family, Melissa Forest, I didn’t’ get to go to her dedication for her house, but I did get to see all that process and see how one of the most empowering things about this program is to see how the families in this program are given the opportunity to work inside of a community for a goal they have. It’s not just about building a house it’s about building relationships and building connections and that is often times what brings people into a new and better situation; is building those connections not just building the house, so that has been really great to see. Do you work with any of the students on campus? I don’t personally. We actually have an IU Chapter. If someone calls or has a question, or that sort of thing I talk to them, but I haven’t gone out and done stuff with them personally. We do have a staff member in our office that is sort of a liaison between our office and the IU Chapter.
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Appendix G Ryan Thie (Boy 1) and James Dean (Boy 2) Interview (Transcribed) How did you both hear about this spring break trip for Habitat for Humanity? 1: We’ve done this trip for quite some time; it’s been 5 years maybe. We’ve usually had a group go down every spring break to New Orleans and help with Habitat down there. Last year we had ten guys, it’s been a consistent tradition in our house. Can you explain what the trip was about? 2: After Katrina everywhere was pretty devastated. And there wasn’t enough resources within the community itself to rebuild, so they kinda sent out this call to action to people outside the community to donate their time, different materials and obviously financial support. So when we come down we also help pay for the worksite we get the money, help them get supplies. We donate our time and our labor to get the resources done. What was the most rewarding part of the trip? 1: I’m somebody who enjoys working with my hands, building stuff, so that was something I easily got enjoyment out of. The other thing was that struck me during the trip, it was kina one of our off days we drove an hour or so to go to a beach in golf port. We were at a restaurant and one of us had our habitat shirts on and they noticed that and come up to us and thanked us for what we were doing. They told us that one of the things that Katrina was the price they paid for living in such a beautiful place. And it is beautiful down there. The Gulf Coast and Louisiana and stuff. That really struck me and hit home for me, how much the people really appreciate it. 2: I defiantly enjoyed the building of the house, try out new things and use power tools – that was exciting. You’re there with probably with over 100 college students doing the exact same things. So you get to meet people from around the country. A bunch of universities and a bunch of different people, which is really kinda neat. Can you guys explain your philanthropy that benefits Habitat for Humanity? 1: We have our haunted house every year and this year it benefits habitat for humanity. I think that had some sort of connection with the habitat in New Orleans because we normally affiliate with them. We’ve had some connection through our philanthropy and this year our haunted house nightmare on Third Street did benefit habitat for humanity. Would you recommend Habitat for Humanity alternative spring break trip to other people? 1: Absolutely. I enjoyed it. It was a great experience. Going down there, helping out, even if it’s… It’s been 7 years since Katrina, they still do need the help quite a bit rebuilding down there. It’s come a long way from what we’ve seen and heard. It was a very rewarding experience for me and I strongly recommend that other people go down there and help out 2: You probably couldn’t find a better alternative spring break; you get to go to a part of the country you probably haven’t gone to. You get to meet a lot of really nice people. It’s a very relaxed part of the country, kinda of slow paced community and I just had a great time.
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Did you work with any families? 2: That was something that I thought was kinda different. Cause I’ve done a Habitat build here in Bloomington and the families are there because they have to do sweat equities because the families have to put in so many hours to get the house. I didn’t see any family members at any of the sites we were working on. I did hear there was a conflict at one of the sites. 1: I’ve also done a habitat build before; it was even during the week How many hours is a typical day working? 2: It’s close to an 8 hr day. 1: You get there about eight, and usually you’re pretty much done about four or five. Construction, they start early of the day, in the summer try to work in the heat of the day as little as possible. But usually it’s an eight-hour day. How many people went on the trip? 1: We had five guys from our house go. How are the builds in Bloomington different than the alternative spring break trip? 1: It was actually when I was a senior in high school. It was back home in Indianapolis. That was just a day we went and helped for a day in Indianapolis. 2: Different, anything different about the builds. In Bloomington they are all Bloomington citizens here so the community is a lot tighter because we’re helping our neighbors and we’re giving them a hand up. Over there (meaning New Orleans) it’s people outside of the community coming in to rebuild this part of America that was destroyed which is kinda cool – it’s community on a much larger scale. We all felt really connected but we’re all strangers so it was kinda awkward the first few days, but then it got better as we got to know each other much better. The biggest difference was the lack of a family being there.
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Appendix H
Najja Marshall Interview (Transcribed) How did you get involved with Habitat for Humanity? One of our alumnus brothers Al Procter has been doing habitat for years now and he’s always set up a good relations with them and with us so every year he just offers it back up to us to have a few of us come out and build each year. What are some of the benefits of a college student getting involved in Habitat for Humanity? Well how Habitat works is you always go out there for a set block of time on a Saturday usually, so I think it’s really good for them to be able to get away from school and other stresses and whatnot and just get out there and get your hands dirty and help out a family that’s less fortunate than you. Do you have any good ideas on how to get more students on campus involved with the student organization? I think that even you went out to all the different chapters there are a lot of Greeks who would be interested in getting involved and just presenting it, and maybe if there was something added on to the student activities fair, that would be useful. How would you describe your experience to someone who has never heard of Habitat for Humanity? You go there for either four or eight hours and you work together, usually with the family who you’re building it for, and you’re really just working on an actual house for a family. We were doing everything from setting up siding to working on the roof; it was really an incredible experience. Ultimately, what does Habitat for Humanity mean for you? Ultimately it means giving back to a family who doesn’t have too much. I think it means coming together with a group of people and getting a chance to really just contribute to something directly. I think it’s really cool when you can work on something and it’s the actual product, you’re actually building a roof, you’re actually working on a house so I think it’s all about involvement and it’s all about the fun too.
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Appendix I Bibliography • http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.405667!/img/httpImage/image.jpg • http://www.topekahabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Homeowner-HFHI-Family.jpeg • http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_yU_5bImvZDE/R1Rnwd6L_1I/AAAAAAAAADY/gUJXufiC044/s1600R/HabFamily.jpg • http://www.noozhawk.com/images/uploads/121410-habitat-540.jpg • http://www.habitatomaha.org/content/161/images/Knoxville_Family_Steffan_Hacker_HFHI_web.jpg • http://www.cm-life.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/A3_Infocus.jpg • http://assets1.razoo.com/assets/media/images/000/000/528/images/size_550x415_hhoc2.png?128 8913505 • http://www.habitat.org/how/factsheet.aspx • http://www.indiana.edu/~habitat/ • http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/us/22habitat.html?_r=1
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