The Tennessee Organization of Master of Business Administration students (TOMBA) will start building its eleventh Knoxville Habitat for Humanity house on Saturday, September 14.

The blitz starts at 7:30 a.m. at 3139 Johnston Street in Knoxville’s Lonsdale neighborhood. Construction will take seven to nine weeks.

This year’s build is for in-home caregiver Wanda Hines.

Hines lost her parents at an early age and then lost her adopted parents at age twenty-three. At that point, another woman unofficially adopted Hines, which got her interested in the foster care system.

Hines has been a foster parent to many. She has three biological children, has legally adopted two of the children she has fostered, and has maintained a relationship with several other foster children even after they aged out of the program at 18.

She has twelve grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Known as “Granny” to everyone, Hines has said she wants to provide a safe and loving environment for her extended family, some of whom have incarcerated parents or need extra attention. Three of the young family members Hines cares for will be living with her at her new house on Johnston Street.

The first walls of Hines’s new home are scheduled to go up around 9:00 a.m. Saturday.

“Four generations are going to enjoy this house,” she said.

Hines said she’s grateful to Habitat for Humanity and TOMBA.

“It is amazing that these kind people will take time out of their busy lives to help others better their own lives,” she said.

TOMBA is a UT student-run organization for full-time MBA students and faculty.

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CONTACT:

Mike Ehrhardt (865-603-3210, ehrhardt@utk.edu)

A team of students and supervisors is heading back to Miami this weekend—where it all began—as well as to Tallahassee, Florida, and Washington, DC, to continue the twenty-year tradition of Tennessee Volunteers volunteering during their spring break.

In all, forty-nine students and nine faculty, staff, and graduate assistants will depart from campus Sunday, March 24. While those heading to Miami will leave for the airport in the afternoon, the groups heading to Tallahassee and Washington will depart at 8:00 a.m. from Staff Lot 25 on Andy Holt Avenue, across from the Allan Jones Aquatic Center.

This year, each group will focus on a service theme.

In Miami, students’ service will focus on environmental issues and exploring the unique ecosystems of the area, as well as the impact the urban environment and its residents have on these ecosystems. Volunteers will spend their time working to preserve the Everglades and Biscayne Bay national parks.

In Tallahassee, students will focus on serving the community through the lens of underrepresented populations suffering from hunger and homelessness. This will include working in homeless shelters, women’s facilities, and with the elderly.

Students traveling to Washington will focus on urban poverty, serving up healthy meals in kitchens, fixing up affordable housing, and helping to clean up some of the city’s parks. Students also will have the opportunity to see how community building helps alleviate poverty in the area, and to learn the economic and social factors contributing to the persistence of poverty in some of our country’s most historic cities.

The groups will return Saturday afternoon, March 30. The trips are organized by the Center for Leadership and Service, the campus volunteer hub, formally known as TeamVOLS. The center organizes alternative spring and fall breaks, both of which commonly have waiting lists for participants.

Other campus groups are also using their spring breaks to give back.

College of Law

Students from the College of Law will be working in conjunction with law students from Belmont University and the University of Memphis during spring break to help victims of domestic abuse. They’re collaborating on the U-visa program, which gives them their first opportunity to take ownership of a case and see it through to the end by researching and collecting case-related documents.

U-visas are designed to give legal status in the United States to people who’ve been the victims of crimes. The visas are given to people who have cooperated with law enforcement to help bring their aggressors to justice. The students collaborate with faculty advisors, victim advocates, and practicing attorneys to work through the legal process of having their clients’—and their clients’ children’s—visas approved.

The college is continuing its partnership with Legal Aid of East Tennessee, which provides students with the opportunity to conduct legal research and other volunteer work.

A group of students also will return to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to participate in the “Wills for Warriors” program, helping current military personnel get their wills, estate planning, and power of attorney documents in order.

College of Nursing

Eighteen undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Nursing will leave Friday, March 22, to return to Costa Rica for the college’s fifth annual alternative spring break trip to the country. The students, along with three supervising faculty members, will provide health care and education to the underserved communities in San Jose. They also will visit an orphanage for disabled children.

The group will work in San Jose for more than a week, returning Sunday, March 31.

Habitat for Humanity

The campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity will be bringing fiftteen students to participate in a Collegiate Challenge, Friday, March 22, through Friday, March 29, in Lakeland, Flroida. Collegiate Challenge gives college students an opportunity to partner with a Habitat affiliate in another city, building houses for a week. For more information, e-mail habitat@utk.edu.

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CONTACTS:

Rebekah Winkler (865-974-8304, rwinkler@utk.edu)

Read the whole story at utsports.com.

Sixty-four students from the MBA program, who had been planning to spend their spring break in an international immersion experience in Chile and were diverted from landing in the country because of the earthquake, wanted to do something for the area and help the Chilean people.

“Habitat for Humanity is a cause near and dear to our students’ hearts,” said Amy Cathey, MBA program director. “The last six MBA classes have built a Habitat home in Knoxville, and this year’s class currently is raising funds for their seventh. So, this charity was a natural fit.”

According to Habitat for Humanity Chile, the MBA donation will be used as part of a larger contribution that will help rebuild and repair homes, schools and community centers in Curepto, Villa Prat, Paine, and Santa Maria Island.

“Through our work with Habitat for Humanity Knoxville, the MBA class knows how important having a home can be. Throughout the aftermath of the earthquake, we were all impressed by the strength of the Chilean people. We wanted to do something in their honor, and this donation seemed to be a perfect fit,” said Katie Davidson, an MBA student in the Class of 2010.

For more information on Habitat Chile’s efforts, please visit http://www.habitat.org/intl/lac/45.aspx.

For more information about the UT Knoxville College of Business Administration, visit http://bus.utk.edu.

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C O N T A C T :

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, craines1@utk.edu)

More than 100 UT students contributed more than 800 volunteer hours over the course of five Saturdays in February and March to build the 1,496-square foot house in northwest Knoxville. The home features five bedrooms and two bathrooms.

This is the ninth house built by UT Resident Assistants (RAs), in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity since 1996. The program, called Housing for Housing, is coordinated by the Department of University Housing. Student volunteers are guided through the building process by experienced Habitat for Humanity supervisors. On the first day of building, called “Blitz Day,” students are met by only a slab of concrete and piles of building supplies. By the end of the Blitz Day, walls and trusses were in place, and there was wood on the roof.

“The RAs raise money each fall semester and in the beginning we built a house each year,” said Jerry Adams, associate director of university housing. “Starting in the spring of 2000 we have built a house every other year.”

RAs also are responsible for recruiting other student volunteers.

“We had the RAs sign up first and then get them to sign up residents,” said Rachel Edington, resident director at Humes Hall. “They’re wanting to get involved, they’re asking questions. They’re the ones sending e-mails to me saying ‘Hey are there still spots available? I’d love to help out.’ They make the process a lot easier.”

Edington said it’s not unusual for there to be a waiting list for volunteers, as the project only consists of five work days. And those work days start early.

“To wake up at 7 a.m. to do this, any other time I might not go,” said Robert Melvin, resident assistant at North Carrick Hall. “But I jump up to wake up for this. It’s just a lot of fun. Really makes me feel good to come out in whatever kind of weather it is and help this family out.”

In the featured video, volunteers are sporting “Volunteers Rock the World!” t-shirts. “Volunteers Rock the World!” is part of the Ready for the World Initiative and aims to highlight members of the UT Knoxville family who are lending a hand at home or in communities around the globe. To learn more about “Volunteers Rock the World!” and Ready for the World, visit http://www.utk.edu/readyfortheworld/rock.

Around 2,500 people will volunteer through the week, including the new homeowners themselves, who put in 500 hours of “sweat equity” in constructing Habitat homes for others while learning life skills such as setting a family budget and managing their personal finances.

When the last home is complete, Knoxville Habitat for Humanity will have built 363 homes since 1985.

The dedication ceremony is set for 11 a.m. Saturday, April 25.