A Personal History of Habitat At VU from Jon Pahl

The Valparaiso University Chapter of Habitat for Humanity grew out of a class I taught, Theology 230 (now 225): The Christian Faith. In that course, I had over the years involved students in a variety of "service projects" in an effort to test various Christian ideas we were studying in the context of "real life." In the Fall of 1995, I learned that an Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity had begun in the city of Valparaiso. After a little inquiry, I began to involve my students in the work of the Affiliate, and was asked to join the Board of Directors.

Our first participation was to build a house with Debbie and her two sons on one of three lots purchased by the affiliate on Kinsey Street. Students from my class worked as laborers--clearing trees on the first day of work at the site. VU students, in other words, were present with Habitat in Valpo from the beginning. We worked only sporadically as the first house went up. The involvement of two engineering students was particularly critical, however,when the foundation was found not to be the right "fit" for the steel-frame construction. I wasn't there, but it was reported to me that the two engineering students--Chris Dibble and Casey Dillon--were instrumental in helping solve that major problem. Chris and Casey became regular supervisors for our workdays after that.The ability of VU students to be both enthusiastic workers and intelligent problem-solvers became even more instrumental on the second home--built with Jayne and her son, Jake. This house was funded, organized, and built almost entirely by students. The money came from a grant proposal the students in my class had written to AAL--the Lutheran insurance company, asking them for $17,500 in seed money, and $17,500 in matching funds. To our surprise, the grant was approved. We thought it would be a good idea, then, to form a Campus Chapter, which we did in the Spring of 1996.

The first meeting was held on Tuesday, February 6, 1996 in the Huegli Hall Lumina Room at 7 p.m.--establishing the pattern of Tuesday night meetings which continues. About 30 attended, including the individuals who became the first leaders of the Campus Chapter--Lisa Erke, President; Ryan Perna, Secretary; Brian Wright--Publicity; Kerri Ann Kieplinski, Family Selection and Nurture. They were all students in my class. Other leaders emerged from Christ College, where I was also teaching at the time. Among them were Sarah Burow, Hope Brummel, Mia Cabibbo, Kristin Dellerman, Sarah Hamlin, Jason Kasza, Paul Koch, Laura Krumm, Martin Lohrmann, Kerrie Morgan, Erin O'Connell, Mandy Pencek, and Amy Rogge.

By March, the application to be an official Campus Chapter was underway, and we were recognized by the Affiliate and International Habitat later that Spring. We broke ground on our second home--located on a lot at 859 Kinsey Street--on April 21. THE TIMES, one of Valpo's local newspapers, reported on the event with the headline "Habitat 'turns ground' on home.' "Crouched down close to the damp soil, some two dozen Valparaiso University students enthusiastically grabbed clumps of earth. . . . 'Rather than a ground breaking--which sounds awfully violent, we will have a ground-turning,' VU professor and faculty advisor Jon Pahl said as he invited members of the Univresity's chapter of Habitat for Humanity to participate in the event. 'I know this is stupid, but it will make a good Kodak moment,' he joked as he encouraged [the students] to come forward."

Jayne and Jake were chosen as our partner family after a long and difficult application process. The students who made the announcement to Jayne at her home reported it as a very emotional event, and Jayne has since told the story of her joy at being chosen to partner with us on many occasions.

The house took nearly a year to complete, beginning in Fall, 1996. There were many trials along the way. The day we poured the footings, for instance, there were eight of us at the site. We had hoped to begin work about noon, but delays made it 3:30 before the cement truck from Smith-Nuppnau appeared. It was a muddy October, and the truck quickly sank up past its wheels. The eight of us were sweating hard as we tried to distribute the concrete by wheel-barrows and smooth it in the trench for the footings before it started to set. A second truck pulled up about 5:30, towed the first truck out, and then the driver proceeded to jump in and help us finish the work--about 8:30 at night. We ran extension cords from Debbie's house and hooked up some lights so we could see what we were doing.

That improvisational spirit helped us throughout the build. Jayne's family was very helpful; especially her Dad, Joe, and brother, John. Bill Domke, former director of the VU Physical Plant, also got involved,and became our "construction guru." Students, however, coordinated and arranged almost all of the work days, including supervision, food, materials, devotions, and labor. They also arranged for construction permits, worked with lawyers, architects, NIPSCO, and contractors. A group of ten or so came back to work on the house during one week of Spring Break in '97--a precedent that has now become the Collegiate Challenge Spring Break trip. Gradually, the Campus Chapter became student-directed and led, as several classes of officers were elected, including Aaron Gin (1996-98) and Jacqui Nordin (1998-99) as President. Heather Deininger was treasurer for two years, and April Santiago played a key role as well in various offices. Matt Crum, Heather Jensen, Kristi Kunkel, Steve Martell, Aaron Mitchell, Megan Schrader, Andy Schuetze, and Jamie Welling also were leaders. A number of annual Habitat events were started during these years, including Building on Faith Week, Corporate Sponsorships, participation in Spring weekend, and others. Alan Bloom also joined the organization as "Junior Faculty Advisor" during these years.

We began work on our third home, also on Kinsey Street, with Isidro and Janet and their four children, in August 1998. Again, students played the key role as laborers, volunteer coordinators, and so forth, working every Saturday and many Sundays throughout the year. We were led especially by the supervision of local contractor and Affiliate Member Rick Blossom. The family moved into their two-story, four bedroom home in September, 2000--nearly two years after construction began. They were very patient.