Contact: Leah Barbour
STARKVILLE, Miss.--Mississippi State University and Habitat for Humanity officials will break ground for the fifth Maroon Edition Habitat for Humanity house on Monday, Aug. 12, at 10:30 a.m.
Habitat's partnership with MSU is the service-learning component of the university's Maroon Edition First-Year Reading Experience. Students, faculty and staff volunteer to build a house throughout the fall semester. This year, the house is located at 115 Beattie St.
MSU President Mark E. Keenum, along with Habitat Executive Director Joel Downey, will speak, and other university and Habitat officials will attend. Keenum traditionally drives the first nail for the annual project.
The Maroon Volunteer Center at MSU coordinates the volunteer shifts, which will be available Aug. 12-17 from 8 a.m. until noon and from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Shifts also will be available on Fridays and Saturdays through the remainder of August and all of September and October. Visit http://www.mvc.msstate.edu/ to sign up.
"The Maroon Edition Habitat house is a very good opportunity for friendships and relationships to be built with other volunteers," said Lynn Reinschmiedt, Maroon Edition consultant at MSU's Center for Teaching and Learning and agricultural economics professor emeritus. "It's an engaging experience and provides opportunities for faculty and students to meet other faculty and students outside their disciplines."
For more information about the groundbreaking ceremony, contact Meggan Franks with the Maroon Volunteer Center at volunteer@saffairs.msstate.edu or 662-325-2208 or Peggy Branch with Starkville Habitat for Humanity at 662-324-7008.