Official Habitat for Humanity Release:
Photo by Artemas Mott – artemasphotography.com.
Students from 16 Area High Schools Celebrate Build-A-Block Accomplishments
Assembling on the 1100 block of Ward Street in Southwest Baltimore, more than 50 friends, family members, student volunteers and local dignitaries gathered on Friday, September 21 to celebrate the dedication of Kariem Yoomus’ new home. Through Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake’s Build-A-Block Program, student volunteers from 16 area high schools came together to make home ownership achievable for Kariem. The students were involved in all aspects of the effort, raising money, developing ideas and dedicating their Saturdays to building homes.
This Build-A-Block effort brought together students from area public, private, and parochial schools including: Baltimore City College, The Bryn Mawr School, Calvert Hall College High School, Carver Vocational-Technical High School, Dulaney High School, Hereford High School, Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical Senior High School, McDonogh School, Mount Saint Joseph High School, Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, The Park School of Baltimore, The Jemicy School, Friends School of Baltimore, Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, Shoshana S. Cardin Jewish Community High School, and Roland Park Country School.
For many students, volunteering on site enabled them to apply their classroom learning outside of school in a real-world setting. In addition, many hours were spent writing grants, planning fundraising events and creating a new community garden. Students from the vocational schools were extremely helpful in the building process, drawing from their construction knowledge. As faculty advisor Marla Hollingsworth said, “Build-A-Block is all about bringing to the community what talents you have to share.”
During the home-dedication ceremony, Carver Vo-Tech student volunteer Antoine Brooks summarized his volunteer experience as requiring “hard work, dedication and teamwork.” These sentiments were also shared by many of his classmates. He was also given the honor of officially handing the keys to the house over to its grateful new owner.
As he passed the keys to the new homeowner, Antoine said, “I just want everybody to be happy and satisfied, because at the end of the day nobody wants to be alone.” His words truly embrace Build-Block’s mission to rebuild lives and rebuild communities.
As more schools and students are recruited to join in the Build-A-Block effort, its reach can continue to expand through entire neighborhoods in need. To find out how you and your school can get involved, please visit the Build-a-Block website.
