After lying dormant for eight years, the Mississippi State University chapter of Habitat for Humanity is active once again. According to chapter president Emily McCarson, MSU’s chapter was originally founded in 1987. It was active for about four years, then membership and participation dwindled.
“It just kind of faded out. There wasn’t really a specific reason why. They didn’t have anyone leading it well,” McCarson said. “Also, since we have a Starkville area chapter, a lot of people would work through that chapter instead of the MSU chapter.”
McCarson decided to revive the chapter in 2000, but the chapter had several steps to take before it could be recognized as an active chapter again.
“We went through official reinstatement. We had to show proof that we really wanted to get it started again, agree to the principles of Habitat for Humanity and we still have a little left to do with the secretary of state to be recognized as a charitable organization,” McCarson said.
Currently, the chapter has between 20 and 30 active members. Full-time members work on the planning of the building dates, recruiting volunteers to work on the projects, fund raising and educating the public about the projects the chapter does. According to McCarson, volunteering to build is the chapter’s main focus.
A special project the chapter has recently done includes a visit to Honors Forum to inform students about the reinstatement of the chapter. Members have also made many other efforts to publicize the chapter and encourage membership.
“We’re still trying to get the word out. We haven’t done anything major just yet,” McCarson said.
The chapter has several events already planned for the month of April.
“We will have Jail and Bail, which is a fund-raiser where Habitat allows people to pay for a warrant to arrest a friend. Then the friend must pay twice the amount of the warrant in order to be released,” McCarson said. “Ninety percent of the money raised will go to support Starkville’s Habitat for Humanity. The other 10 percent will be given to support worldwide Habitat for Humanity.”
Another event planned for April is Change the World. On April 10, the chapter members will have a table on the Drill Field where they will distribute literature and collect change for the organization.
“Habitat International planned for all campus and youth chapters to do something special on this day,” McCarson said.
McCarson is enthusiastic about the revival of the chapter and has hopes that the chapter will continue to remain active.
“We’re definitely still growing. We’re trying to get more people involved and continue fund raising,” McCarson said. “We’d like to help build one more house this semester with the Starkville chapter.”
“We work directly with the Starkville chapter. We don’t do the houses on our own. We let the Starkville area choose the people we build for and do all of the mortgages and things like that,” McCarson said. “Our main interests are building, fund raising and education.”
See related story on Habitat for Humanity on page 11.