University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Men's Lacrosse Helps Build Habitat House
November 22, 2010 | Men's Lacrosse
Nov. 22, 2010
By Frankie Kelly
Freshman
University of North Carolina Men's Lacrosse
This past Saturday morning was a cold but sunny one as nine members of the UNC men's lacrosse team woke up at 7 a.m. to head out to a local neighborhood and help with the construction of a house. However, the house that we worked on was no ordinary construction project as it is part of the UNC Build-a-Block program that partners with Habitat for Humanity.
What makes this program so special is that it utilizes volunteer laborers like us to provide low cost housing to families that would otherwise not be able to afford a home. One aspect about the process that I found very admirable was that the only construction payments that these families must provide is something that Habitat for Humanity calls "sweat equity". "Sweat equity" is the certain amount of time that the family receiving the home must spend physically working on the house alongside the volunteers. Knowing that the family was working hard to build their own home, I believe inspired us to attack the day's jobs despite the early time and cold temperature.
We were broken down into two groups upon arriving at the construction site. Half of us spent the four hours working on strengthening the house's infrastructure, while the other half helped put together what would be the framing for the roof. It certainly must have been a sight to see, as several inexperienced handymen worked away with wood, hammers and hundreds of nails. As out of place as many of us seemed, we felt like we definitely accomplished something that day. Every nail we drove in brought that family one step closer to owning and living in its own home.
For most of us, not being able to afford any sort of housing has never been much of a problem. It is a very real and unfortunate problem for many families in our local community, and I am happy to say that members of the UNC lacrosse team helped to eliminate part of that problem for one family last Saturday. I look forward to returning to the construction site in the future to finish what we started or help another family in need.
Editor's Note: TarHeelBlue.com wishes to thank Frankie Kelly for his first person account of the men's lacrosse team's visit to work on a Habitat For Humanity House on Saturday, November 20, 2010. Frankie is a freshman midfielder from Lutherville, Md. He played in high school for Carolina alumnus at Calvert Hall High School in Baltimore
