Lipscomb students lead Habitat blitz build

Chris Pepple  | 

For the tenth year, Lipscomb University students traveled over spring break to the area around Robbins, Tenn., to work with the Appalachia Habitat for Humanity to build simple, decent housing for local residents. Lipscomb has a well-established relationship with the Appalachia affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, contributing for several years to the progress of Habitat houses in various ways including, but not limited to, installing windows, building doorframes, roofing, painting, and doing home repairs. Faculty leaders Jon Lowrance and Paul Prill have taken the time to know the Habitat teams and community leaders, creating a lasting bond between the university teams and the East Tennessee community. Fort Gwinn joined the group this year as a third faculty leader.

For this trip, team members Amber Burch and Adam Graham inspired the team to add a new challenge. They urged the team to not only attempt to build an entire house in a week, but also to entirely fund the project. With the support of Jeff Fincher and Mark Jent in the missions department, the team developed and implemented plans to turn their hope into a reality.

“Adam and I went on the trip last year and experienced the testimony of our team members, the Habitat workers and the people in that community. We got a feel for the differences in our lives, the resources that we have available to us compared with the resources available to many people in that area. We have options that many people there do not. We decided we could step it up a notch and contribute in a larger way. Why not? If the need is there, why not help fill it?” asked Amber Burch, a Lipscomb senior from Memphis who served as one of the team leaders for the trip.

Through four fund-raising events, the team raised slightly over $38,000. With these funds, they presented a $32,000 check to the Appalachia affiliate of Habitat for Humanity. They also bought a washer and dryer as a housewarming gift for the new homeowners and purchased a nail gun for the Habitat team. They gave hope to a single mother and her two-year old son who needed a home to help them get back on their feet.

“I presented the keys to Cheri for her house. I can’t describe what it was like. I got to be with the new homeowner and be with my team, students I had worked with, some all year long as we got ready for the project. We all invested in this dream together. I got to see their reaction when we accomplished our goal. We all felt like, wow, look at what has been done. We helped give this person a new chance in life. We realized what we were a part of. It was tangible and poignant,” said Burch.

“We invested in hope for someone else, someone we didn’t know personally. God inspired our team to do this and faithfully provided resources along the way. It was great to see the domino effect from what happened at our first fundraiser all the way through handing her the keys. The hope didn’t trickle out, it boomed up.”