Contact: Harriet Laird
A groundbreaking for the second Maroon Edition Habitat for Humanity house will be held Tuesday [Aug. 10] with Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum as guest speaker.
The 9:30 a.m. event, at 265 Greenwood St. in Starkville, will signal the start of an estimated 2,000 hours of volunteer service completed by the MSU community on the project.
A large number of freshmen, involved in the Service Dawgs student organization and several Maroon Edition activities, completed last year's house built in record time for a family of five. Maroon Edition is the university's common book program for freshmen, who will read the national bestseller "Three Cups of Tea," focusing on the education of village children in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
David Lewis, associate dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Design, is leading this year's build, with the last nail expected to be driven by February 2011. Student leaders from his college will raise the home's first wall.
"As it takes a village to raise a child; it takes a community to raise a house and a school," Lewis explained. "It's important for our faculty to provide students with opportunities such as this Habitat project so they recognize that architecture, design, art and construction are as much civic responsibilities as they are personal endeavors. And, to understand that even local projects, be it in Starkville or Afghanistan, have global ramifications."
Following the Aug. 10 kickoff, the Habitat project will require two shifts of volunteers on Aug. 12-14, 16 and 17, from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and from 1-5 p.m. Service Dawgs Day for the build will be Aug. 17, and the Maroon Edition Service Day will be Sept. 24.
Volunteer information is available at the Maroon Volunteer Center web site, http://www.mvc.msstate.edu/. For more information about Maroon Edition and the Habitat for Humanity project, visit http://www.maroonedition.msstate.edu/ or http://www.starkvillehabitat.com/msu-house/.