Habitat for Humanity Grants Charter to Pitt-Bradford Club

Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit group that builds affordable housing for low-income families, has chartered a collegiate chapter at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

John Bevan, a senior criminal justice major from Wexford, is the president of the new chapter, which has been working with the Bradford Habitat for Humanity Chapter on its first home. The home is being built on Interstate Parkway, and Bevan said that students will be able to contribute more hours once interior finishing begins.

Tonya Ackley, coordinator of community engagement at Pitt-Bradford, is the advisor for the club.

“The Office of Community Engagement had a table at Club Night last year to see if there was interest in reactivating the club, and we got an overwhelming response from our students,” she said. “They were very supportive of the mission of Habitat for Humanity and were excited about the opportunity to go on alternative spring breaks.”

More than 40 students have registered for the new club, and eight students will make a Habitat spring break trip to help with homebuilding by the Chatham Habitat for Humanity in Pittsboro, N.C.

Bevan said that the students are making the trip with the Habitat chapter from Pitt-Johnstown, and that they will all live in a rented cabin for a week and learn skills on the job that allow them to help work on a home that is being built.

Pitt-Bradford students have attended Habitat alternative spring breaks in the past, but not been an officially recognized group on campus.

To raise money for the trip to North Carolina, the group is planning a Mr. and Miss Pitt-Bradford fundraiser at the end of next month.

Pictured, Richille Denora, an elementary education major from Bradford, foreground, and Sharie Radzavich, an administrative assistant at Pitt-Bradford, work on a Habitat for Humanity house in Bradford on Make a Difference Day in October.
Photo by Alan Hancock