Newswise — BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Construction will begin Sept. 24 on the fifth Habitat for Humanity home that will be built for a Bloomington family by Indiana University students, faculty and alumni on campus, with support from Whirlpool Corp.
Since 2010, four Bloomington families have accepted their house keys on the football field at IU's Memorial Stadium, not far from where the houses were built, across 17th Street and near the Virgil T. DeVault Alumni Center.
This fall, Tracey Hodge, an IU Health Bloomington Hospital employee, and her son Dante will become the fifth family to work with hundreds of volunteers on a home and to raise awareness about the importance of quality affordable housing in the community.
This also is the fifth year that Whirlpool has sponsored the blitz home build in a joint effort with IU, its Kelley School of Business and Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County.
The build dates encompass back-to-back home football games of the IU Hoosiers with the University of Maryland on Sept. 27 and the University of North Texas on Oct. 4. The Hodges will receive the keys to their new home before the North Texas game. The house will be moved to its final location the following day.
“Our mission on the IU Bloomington campus extends well beyond the borders of our campus; we also seek out meaningful community outreach opportunities,” said IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel. "I have long served as a volunteer and board member with Habitat for Humanity and am so pleased to support this continued partnership with Whirlpool to help provide a home for a hard-working local family."
“This is one of our favorite projects, and it represents several of Kelley’s core values: teamwork, leadership, and being of service,” added Idalene “Idie” Kesner, dean of the Kelley School and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management. “I’m very proud that so many of our Kelley students, faculty and staff participate in this build.”
A lifelong Monroe County resident, Hodge is a lab assistant at IU Health Bloomington Hospital and is a single mom raising a teenage son with Asperger's syndrome and other developmental issues.
Before earning a degree from Ivy Tech Community College two years ago, she had been a pharmacy technician at Kroger for nearly seven years and before then a home health aide for several years.
Despite being part of the workforce, Hodge struggled with supporting a child with disabilities and being financially self-sufficient, which made it difficult to quality for a mortgage. Finding decent, affordable housing was always a challenge for her. She and her son have lived in Section 8 housing for 10 years.
"This means I can stand on my own two feet," Hodge said of her now home. "It means my showing my son that even though you struggle, if you work hard enough and apply yourself and work with people, that you can do what you set your mind to.
"It means stability for my son. It means having that 'always' spot for him to come home to, no matter what happens," she added. "I feel honored and appreciate being part of the IU/Whirlpool build."
The house has been designed and will be equipped to accommodate Dante's disability, but Tracey is looking forward to finally having a home to decorate to make it her own.
"I am looking forward to painting my kitchen orange," she said with a smile. "I like chili peppers … Dante says it's going to be like Casa Brava in there. When we have to mow the lawn, it's going to be my lawn … It's going to be ours, and we get to define the rules within."
Kerry Thomson, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, said the Hodges have worked very hard to make their dream of home ownership a reality. To qualify for a Habitat home, each family must have the ability to pay a nonprofit mortgage and invest at least 250 hours of "sweat equity" or volunteer hours.
“This build is one of the best examples of community partnership,” Thomson said. “The Kelley School of Business along with Whirlpool Corporation and the many advocates for affordable housing come together with all their best gifts to create lasting change – one family at a time.”
More than 400 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 15 Kelley and IU campus organizations will volunteer to be part of the build, along with faculty, administrators and alumni, including those now working at Whirlpool. Among them are Chris Ball, general manager for laundry at Whirlpool and an IU Kelley graduate.
"We are honored to take part in making homes affordable for families across the country by providing a refrigerator and range for all newly built Habitat homes,” Ball said. “However, giving back to my alma mater and working side by side with the Hodges to make their dream a reality is especially gratifying.”
Those working on the build from IU will include Fry Scholars and other students in the Business Honors Program, the Civic Leadership Development program, the Kelley Living Learning Center, Women in Business, the Hutton Honors College and the Maurer School of Law's Journal of Law and Social Equality.
The build is part of Whirlpool-sponsored Habitat builds taking place throughout the United States in 2014 and the company's ongoing initiative to donate a range and refrigerator to every new Habitat home in the U.S. and Canada.
Whirlpool, a partner since 1999, will donate approximately $5 million to Habitat for Humanity in 2014, bringing its total commitment to more than $84.5 million and more than 80,000 families impacted.
Anyone in the IU community can participate in the upcoming campus build. Those interested should contact Kathleen Robbins at the Kelley School's Institute for Social Impact at 812-855-1361 or [email protected].
About Whirlpool Corp.Whirlpool Corp. is the world’s leading global manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, with annual sales of approximately $19 billion in 2013, 69,000 employees and 59 manufacturing and technology research centers around the world. The company markets Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, Bauknecht and other major brand names. It works to earn the trust of consumers in nearly every country by focusing on what matters most. Additional information about the company can be found at http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com.
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