In addition to
studying for their next test, attending after school athletics practices, and
making plans for the weekend, high school students at Asheville Christian Academy
and Christ School have figured out how they can help a local family purchase an
affordable home. Affordable housing is not on your average high school student’s
radar, but next Friday, April 5th
at 3:30PM these students will raise the first wall of the Habitat Student
Build, the house they are sponsoring in Swannanoa.
Led by members of the
Swannanoa Fire Department,
at 3:15PM on April 5th, 180 enthusiastic and supportive students and
faculty will march from the parking area at the intersection of Railroad and
Dennis Streets to the Habitat construction site off Dennis Street in the old
Nolan ball field. Upon their arrival, Habitat will host a short
ceremony during which the future homeowner, Tammy Haynie and her children, will
speak. Then the students will raise the first wall.
The hard part
is over; the students have raised over $36,000 in total – each school committed
to $18,333. Starting last year, students organized fundraising events such as
pumpkin sales for Halloween, ticketed basketball games and raffles, a chili
cook-off, a school dance, and more. They’ve reached their monetary goal; now
it’s time to begin building. Students who are 16 years and older, along with
faculty and staff from the schools, will volunteer their time to help build the
house.
Adding to the
uniqueness of the event is the fact that this house will be in the first Habitat
neighborhood in Swannanoa. These 17 houses will have a variety of sponsors,
from homes sponsored by a coalition of lawyers to a variety of faith groups to
a house called Dave’s House, built in memory of the man who urged Habitat to
seek out land in the East Valley. Before this community is even built, it’s
pulling together various fibers of the communities found in Buncombe County.
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