Stephanie Glass 鈥�17 shares her experience with Fuller Center for Housing
Spring Break 2016 was a week for firsts for me: my first service immersion trip with Fuller Center for Housing; my first experience building alongside a homeowner; my first time shingling a roof and installing siding; and my first visit to Americus, Ga., where Fuller Center for Housing was founded.
It is no surprise that this trip was full of firsts because the trip itself was a first. Wittenberg鈥檚 chapter of Fuller Center for Housing is breaking ground on more than just the houses we build; we are Fuller Center鈥檚 first collegiate chapter, and the 50 students who traveled to Albany and Perry, Ga. and Tallahassee, Fla. were the first 50 to participate in a trip of this kind.
Fuller Center for Housing was founded in 2005 by Millard and Linda Fuller. The couple founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976, after giving away their fortune in order to devote their lives to doing God鈥檚 work and serving the poor. After decades of working with Habitat, the Fullers and Habitat parted ways as a result of philosophical differences in business operations.
Leaving Habitat was not a setback, but an opportunity, according to Linda Fuller, whom we had the opportunity to speak with during our day trip to Americas. Millard and Linda joined forces with (Fuller Center President) David Snell to found Fuller Center for Housing on the same biblical principles Habitat, they felt, had originally embraced.
Thus began a long line of firsts. My first, however, began on March 6. I was a part of the trip to Albany, and when it began, I had no idea what to expect, and yet the trip exceeded my expectations. We spent the week renovating the home of Mark, a member of our host church. We put shingles on his roof, installed siding on his home, removed the overgrown weeds, which consumed his land, and replaced them with a new garden. Each day of our work, we were assisted by local contractors who lent us their time and expertise, members of Albany Fuller Center for Housing who stopped by to give us encouragement, and members of the local churches who provided us with food and housing. For many of these people, it was their first time working with student volunteers.
Our final day of construction was not a first for me, but was for many members of the group: the dedication of Mark鈥檚 home. This was a time in which we reflected on the work we had done, the change we had made, and asked for a blessing upon Mark and his home. As we all came together in celebration, it hit me how many hands had come together to renovate this home, to make a difference in the life of a man who had fallen on hard times.
The hands that made a difference weren鈥檛 only the hands of my fellow volunteers and me, gripping the hammers, drills, clippers and rakes each day. The hands that made a difference were in the kitchen, preparing our meals, or behind a computer typing email after email weeks in advance to prepare for us to make the visit. The hands that had made a difference were in Americus, in Albany, in Perry, in Tallahassee, and back in Springfield. These hands were all joined in the mission of passing the Wittenberg light to others 鈥� no matter how far away.
When we arrived in Albany, we met a homeowner who was stuck in substandard housing through no fault of his own and felt little hope that change would ever come his way. When we left, we left a man who would come home every day to more than the beautiful house we renovated, but to a lasting reminder of the hope that he found within our community, and the bright shining glow of the Wittenberg light that he found all the way down in Albany, Ga.
Spring Break was a week full of firsts, and I can only hope that there are more to come. I鈥檓 thankful to attend Wittenberg, a university that is characterized by its values and mission of serving others. I鈥檓 thankful for the opportunities given to me to pass on my light in all of its forms, and I鈥檓 thankful for the endless firsts that I have experienced because of this special place.
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