Habitat for Humanity partners each year with the Whirlpool Corporation, an appliance manufacturer, and the Kelley School of Business, to put together a house on campus during football season. Saturday marked the sixth house built at IU, before being moved to its permanent location on West 12th Street.
Whirlpool chairman and CEO Jeff Fetting, a Kelley Business School alumnus, presented the keys to the completed house to Nereyda Garza early Saturday afternoon on the elevated porch of the newly-constructed house.
The keys were presented again on the IU Memorial Stadium field before the football game began.
Garza, 28, said she and her three children shared a single room and bed in the apartment where she lived with her parents, sister and brother.
“I’m probably going to miss that,” Garza said. “But they’ll probably still sleep with me for a day or two.”
Habitat for Humanity called Garza, a floor manager at Kroger, about two months ago to ask if she could participate.
Garza, who must complete 250 hours of work on Habitat projects to become eligible for home ownership through the non-profit, agreed.
Garza said she worked on every part of the new house, from the floor up.
“It’s just something that I never thought I would see, never thought I would have,” she said. “It’s just amazing seeing volunteers coming in and helping you build your dream.”
As long as Garza’s remaining hours are completed and the paperwork is finished, she and her children will move to the new home in December.
“I can tell my kids, ‘Go to your room,’” Garza said. “Not ‘go to the room,’ but ‘go to your room.’”
Garza said the house represented the American dream for her family — a chance to build their own memories and continue to grow.
“Everything’s going to change for the good,” Garza said.
Deb O’Connor, Whirlpool’s director of global corporate reputation and community relations, helped scrape paint splatter off of the floors Saturday morning.
She’s attended about ten dedications and each has been emotional.
“Every single time, everyone is so appreciative and so happy,” O’Connor said. “You realize you’re just doing the right thing.”
Kevin Kuo volunteered Saturday with Wells Activism and Volunteer Effort, another group that worked on the home.
Kuo, a chemistry senior, said the partnership was a new way to help the Bloomington community.
“I wasn’t sure what I expected going into (this build),” said Kuo. “The Habitat staff always helps out immensely, they’re always happy to teach people how to use the tools.”
Jacque Kubley, Habitat for Humanity’s crew leader for the home, said the main difference in the campus build was the condensed amount of time in which it was completed.
“If you had been here 10 days ago, there would have been nothing but a couple of iron beams sitting on the cribbing,” Kubley said. “When the majority of the volunteers came out, there was nothing but this big, open deck.”
Kubley said that after the floor was laid out, the walls were built and erected, the partitions were set up and locked in “like giant jigsaw pieces” that stabilized the build. The roof was installed by hand.
“As soon as the house is what they call ‘dried in,’ plumbers and electricians can come in,” she said. After that, putting in windows and doors, weatherproofing, putting in floors and cabinets and painting all went relatively quickly.
“At this point tomorrow morning when the movers come in, they’ll put the house on dollies and go,” Kubley said.
Kubley, who has worked with Habitat for Humanity for about 12 years, said each build is amazing to see come together with the volunteers’ hard work and new skills.
“I’ve done maybe 105, 110 of these,” Kubley said. “Every time it’s an incredible thing.”
