CTC students help renovate Habitat for Humanity home near Carmichaels
Tyler Shultz, left, a student at Greene County Career and Technology Center, works with Larry Frank, a CTC instructor with the school’s building construction occupations, on a Habitat for Humanity home near Carmichaels Friday.
Students from Greene County Career and Technology Center work on renovations at a Habitat for Humanity home near Carmichaels Friday.
CARMICHAELS – Greene County Career and Technology Center students are helping Habitat for Humanity renovate a house near Carmichaels, while also learning in the process.
The mobile home was moved from Richhill Township after Noble Energy purchased it recently to move it off of its well pad, according to Ben Staud, construction engineer for Noble Energy. He said the company then donated the home to Habitat and some of their employees, himself included, have been volunteering to help renovate the home at its new location on Cumberland Avenue near Wana B Park.
Dawn Vazzana, a human resources representative for Noble Energy, said the company doesn’t usually need to demolish or move houses.
“This is the first time we’ve ever had to move a house,” she said Friday. “But we do a lot of community service projects.”
Steve Stanko, who is with Habitat for Humanity, said his organization owned the property in Cumberland Township and wanted to put a home there. A family that financially qualifies for a mortgage through Habitat will be moving in once the renovations are completed, he said.
“They live in the Carmichaels (school) district,” he said. “They’re renting now, but they’re looking for their own home.”
He said there’s still a lot left to do on the house before the family can move in. He’s not sure how long it will take.
“If you had a paid crew, you could gauge that, but when you have volunteers, it significantly changes the timeframe.”
Stanko said he’s grateful for help from those volunteers with Noble Energy and the six CTC students.
“It’s a win-win for all of us,” he said. “It all works together quite well and it’s good training for the students to be out in the field.”
Larry Frank, a CTC instructor with the school’s building construction occupations, agreed, saying that doing volunteer work while their young, will make them “more likely to come back and do it again.”
“The experience and volunteering is really good for them, especially since some of them live in this district and are doing this work right in their own backyard,” he said.
Nathan Bilonick, a junior at Calvary Chapel Christian School in Fredericktown, was one of the CTC students helping to work on the house Friday. He said it was a great starting point for a future career.
“I always like to work on wood building projects and that’s what I want to do with my future,” he said.
The Challenge Program organized the project by connecting the CTC student with Habitat, according to the Challenge Program Develop Manager Maria Campieri.
“We help build the relationship between the business community and the schools,” she said.