F r o n t   L i n e Service Call by Sean Koenig Henry David Thoreau once suggested that if college students helped build and maintain their institutions, the experience would rival their coursework in importance. While the administration sees fit to distance students from menial tasks on Grounds, many students now seek the benefits of manual labor through service in the community. Habitat for Humanity is leading the surge in student volunteerism, building its first house sponsored and staffed entirely by U.Va. students, with other organizations following with tool in soiled hand. Velveteen loafers slathered in red clay mud. Visiting the site of Habitat's most ambitious construction effort in its five year history at U.Va. revealed much about the flourishing state of volunteerism at our university, especially beyond our serpentine walls. This is the first time U.Va.'s campus chapter has sponsored a house on its own, pledging $20,000 and physical labor towards completing a new home for Sharlene and Benjamin Austin and their grade school daughter. The effort has tapped a diverse cross-section of U.Va. institutions to realize the April grand opening: religious groups, Madison house regulars, and especially the Greek system. IFC educator Eric Giesler helped merge fraternity volunteer efforts with the Habitat program and has organized the fundraising campaign, which is still $5000 shy of its commitment. This project is breaking new ground in volunteerism in a nation where college students have increasingly turned away from public service. Carefully groomed hair matted by a cold, steady drizzle. The construction site suggested Valley Forge: inadequate uniforms ­ no gloves, hats, or rain coats -- could not resist the damp chill. But in spite of the ornery weather, the students stepped lively: covering supplies with tarps, hauling the A-frame roof supports into the skeleton house that only yesterday had been a cinderblock foundation. Freshly hewn pines lined the perimeter; embattled gravel and straw deterred the soil from swallowing feet. Grander and grittier describe the interests of many students seeking to volunteer. Traditional service roles like tutoring and working at the hospital remain strong, but alternative endeavors reaching farther from the university and emphasizing hands on work are on the rise. Whether drawn by the New Testament "theology of the hammer" or simply the desire for concrete results from their efforts, over 700 students subscribe to the Habitat e-mail list, with numbers increasing. Organizations specializing in hands-on community service include the Housing Improvement Program and Alternative Spring Break (both offered through Madison House), Habitat for Humanity, and the service fraternity APO. In addition, the U.Va. chapters of fraternities, sororities, and religious organizations are among the many groups initiating new outreach efforts -- in support of the Austin house, Sigma Nu hosted a live music coffee house collecting $1500 and the Inter-Varsity council raised a comparable sum recycling tires at the Ivy Landfill. Other groups chipping in include Hillel, the Architectural Design Council, Air Force ROTC, Circle K, and the Wesley Foundation. Habitat for Humanity selects families based on need, Christian faith, ability to pay the interest-free mortgage, and willingness to volunteer 500 hours of service towards the construction effort. The Austins' applied through their church, waiting over three years for their turn while living with Sharlene's parents. After the house is finished -- a three-month process -- the mortgage on the home will be reinvested by Habitat into more houses in the community. Ten percent of Habitat's income helps support an international "Fund for Humanity," the value of which U.Va. Habitat Vice President Gwen Calisch put into perspective: "Ten percent of the value of the Austin house couldn't buy property to build on in America -- in a third world country an identical sum could build a small village." Community is very important to the Habitat program. The Austins' house is only the first of ten such houses to be built on a tract of land bordering a school and a church. Portions of the site have been set aside for development into a county park, and many of the original trees were left standing. The community goal extends beyond design as well; Calisch plans to initiate a mentoring program to provide daycare for children whose parents work on the house. Overton McGehee, who works for the Greater Charlottesville Habitat chapter, understands the importance of student volunteers in tackling the daunting task of nine more houses. Last Thanksgiving in Lynchburg, 15 houses were raised in a single week by students from colleges across the Commonwealth. The U.Va. chapter of Habitat is working closely with the Greater Charlottesville organization, with a voting seat on the board of directors. Greater Charlottesville Habitat, which manages housing projects throughout Albermarle, is providing matching funds and technical supervision for the Austin project, according to McGehee. He expressed admiration for U.Va. Habitat leaders, who seem to have "no trouble getting volunteers." There are still many issues that separate U.Va. Habitat efforts from the international organization, particularly religion. McGehee emphasized that Habitat is a "Christian organization" providing not only material, but spiritual assistance as well. Mrs. Austin also emphasized the spiritual aspects as a "very important part of the program." On the other side of the pulpit, Calisch described the students' role as "mostly secular"; many student volunteers were oblivious or indifferent to the Christian overtones of the service project. Asked if this difference of emphasis had engendered any friction between the groups, Calisch replied without hesitation, "Not in the least." Driving home, the heater dial retreated slowly from hurricane-force heat wave to blasé temperate. Vocabulary thawed from monosyllabic poignant into the superfluous, and velveteen loafers shed red clots on the floor mats. Back to the serpentine garden, but not before the volunteers had felt the depth of cold, strength of wood, and embrace of soil that built a consensus for returning. For more information concerning Habitat, there will be information sessions Mondays in Cabell 338 at 9 p.m. E-mail Habitat@virginia.edu to subscribe to the habitat mailing list; the latest information on rides and cancellations is available at 293-9066. Sign up sheets for the Austin house project are located at 24 West Lawn. For further information contact Gwen Calisch or Huntley Garriott.

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