Habitat for Humanity will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for Mississippi State University’s S.M.A.R.T bus driver Annie Hopkins.
Starkville Habitat for Humanity will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for their next house project on Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at 5 p.m..
Since Habitat for Humanity was founded in Americus, Georgia, in 1976, more than 225,000 houses have been built in nearly 100 countries providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for over 1 million people.
Starkville Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit Christian organization with the goal to eliminate substandard housing in Oktibbeha County. 
The Habitat works in partnership with people to build and renovate decent, affordable housing; in this case MSU’s own Greek Life Association raised $75,000 to help the Habitat. The men of Kappa Sigma Fraternity donated $50,000 alone. Through donations of money and volunteer labor from students and organizations at MSU, Starkville Habitat for Humanity will be able to build the home and sell the house to one lucky individual: MSU’s own S.M.A.R.T. bus driver, Ms. Annie Hopkins. 
According to  Joel Downey, executive director of Habitat, Hopkins was chosen due to her generous and loving personality towards the students who ride her bus.
Downey said, “Even though Annie can make more money driving a truck – which is what she did before driving a bus –she prefers to use her time to talk to the students on campus and get to know them. She likes to put bright smiles on all their faces.”
By working in partnership with Hopkins, Starkville Habitat for Humanity hopes to make her dream of home ownership become true and provides an easier way of living for her while restoring hope for a brighter future.