No experience necessary! Build trips are every other Saturday.
To get a spot on a weekend building trip, come to our bi-weekly meetings or come to office hours.
Hundreds of different students volunteer with Habitat each semester. Every Saturday, we travel up to Sandtown Baltimore to work on our house. The Sandtown neighbordhood consists of 72 square blocks of hundred-year old rowhouses, many of which are abandoned. We renovate these houses one at a time, by completely gutting out and rebuilding their interiors, so that they can provide a family with a decent place to live. To date we have completed 11 houses; Sandtown Habitat as a whole has built over 200!
Leaving for Baltimore
The vans leave from the Hoff Theater entrance to Stamp Student Union (the side with the huge hill) at 6:45am on Saturday mornings, and from the 7-Eleven on Knox Road at 7:00AM. You can come to either one of these 2 places to meet the rest of the group.
What you need to know…
- Closed-toed shoes are mandatory.
- Dress in layers – especially when it’s cold outside.
- Wear comfortable, old clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty or damaged. Long sleeves and long pants are recommended.
- You may want a hat or bandanna to cover your head, and hair ties if you need them.
- Stay hydrated – bring a bottle of water.
- Bring pocket money for food. We stop at 7-Eleven for breakfast and Lexington Market for lunch – $10 should be more than enough.
- Don’t bring anything fragile or valuable!
- If it is your first building trip this semester, you need to fill out the waiver forms (click here).
- No experience is necessary – remember to have fun!
At the Work Site
Upon arriving at Sandtown we do a quick introduction, and then pick up our tools and equipment from the Habitat warehouse. Next we begin work on the day’s building, under the direction of the Construction Manager. We take a midday lunch break at Lexington Market, and then get in a few good hours of afternoon work. We clean up and usually return to College Park around 4 pm or 5 pm, leaving your Saturday night free. If you haven’t been on a build before, it’s really quite an experience!