Findlay, Ohio, March 1, 2005 – Sixteen students, staff and faculty members from The University of Findlay will help build a home for a family of seven during spring break, March 5-12, as part of the mission of Habitat for Humanity International.

The University group will travel to the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Branson, Mo., where they will work a minimum eight-hour day on a fully functional construction site with the guidance of a construction manager and often with the future homeowners. Students learn some basic building techniques, but also much about the conditions leading to the need for Habitat homes in various communities around the Untied States.

“The trip is much more than fun in the sun,” Dr. Wayne Sneath, faculty adviser to the UF HFHI chapter, said. “While there is time for fun and exploration of the local community, the work is hard, but also very educational in many ways.”

This is the third year that the UF HFHI Chapter has participated in HFHI’s Collegiate Challenge -- a program in which over 10,000 U.S. high school and college students spend their spring breaks building homes in partnership with future Habitat homeowners. In 2004, the UF campus chapter traveled to Naples, Fla., to help in the construction of a 125-home Habitat subdivision and in 2003 to Americus, Ga., to build a home in Plains, Ga.

These trips are part of the university’s larger community service, service learning, and civic engagement initiative through the Campus Compact Center for Service & Learning. UF strives through these kinds of activities to create student citizen leaders who will fulfill the institution’s mission “to prepare students for meaningful lives and productive careers.”

HFHI is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry that seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world.

It was founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller and has built more than 175,000 houses around the world, providing more than 750,000 people in 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter.

For more information on HFHI Alternative Spring Break, please contact Crystal M. Jones, at 419-434-6671 or cjones@findlay.edu.