"Building Homes: Rebuilding Lives"

John A. Logan College students recently participated in a service learning project in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity and Lutheran Social Services. About 15 John A. Logan College students volunteered in a variety of capacities for Lutheran Social Services annual fund raiser for its "Building Homes: Rebuilding Lives" program. The annual fund raising event features a live auction of hand-made items made by prison inmates. This year's guest speaker was the founder of Habitat for Humanity Millard Fuller, and many of the students had the opportunity to meet and speak with him. The auction raised $10,000 for the "Building Homes: Rebuilding Lives" program.

The award-winning "Building Homes: Rebuilding Lives" program facilitates the building of affordable housing for low-income families by linking Illinois Department of Corrections facilities with Habitat for Humanity affiliates. Adult and juvenile prison inmates build cabinets, storage shed trusses, and wall panels for these housing projects inside the prisons, and they are then shipped to construction sites. Habitat for Humanity and other local groups then assemble the pre-fabricated units.

The College's involvement in the event was coordinated by sociology instructor Mary O'Hara with assistance from Mabel Hayes. Ms. O'Hara developed a PowerPoint presentation of the fund-raising event so the prisoners who made the auction items could see the "fruits of their labor."