By now, the Eastern community should know that Habitat for Humanity helped pass a resolution in Harrisburg on Sept. 20 that recognized the hard work Habitat has done by providing housing for low income families.
However, what isn’t known is how much of an impact Eastern students had on the passing of the resolution. According to senior Sarah Osbourgh, Habitat’s service learning counselor, if it hadn’t been for Eastern’s commitment, the resolution wouldn’t have been passed at all.
Last year, Habitat developed “Act! Speak! Build!”, a week-long program they held on and off campus. “Act!” consisted of having students sign up as advocates of the club outside of the Dining Commons, and “Speak!” had students writing letters to President Barack Obama asking him to “make a smart investment in the promise of affordable, secure housing for vulnerable American families.”
Forty-three students became advocates, and fifty-two wrote letters.
Finally, “Build!” involved students coloring pictures of hammers during dinner hours then giving them to Habitat who would donate $.50 per picture. In total, $54 was donated to Habitat International, thanks to the hammer drawings.
After all was said and done, Osbourgh then sent the results of “Act! Speak! Build!” to Delaware County Representative William Adolph Jr.
“I didn’t really think anything was going to come out of it,” Osbourgh said.
But to Osbourgh’s surprise, a response came back from Adolph Jr., saying that the local House of Representatives wanted to write a resolution honoring Eastern for its efforts. So, with a unanimous vote, Resolution No. 896 was passed.
As the oldest group on campus, Habitat does all that it can to stay on top of the issue of poverty housing – but a little help now and then is appreciated.
“We want to thank Eastern students for helping us,” Osbourgh said. “This resolution represents Eastern too.”