March 31, 2003
DBU students hammer away at break
___TAOS, N.M.--Students from Dallas Baptist University bypassed the famous ski slopes in this Northern New Mexico town spring break to wield hammers and saws instead.
___Sixteen DBU students worked on a Habitat for Humanity house in Taos the week of March 9. Elsewhere in New Mexico, nine DBU students also built with Habitat in Los Lunas and 11 in Santa Fe.
DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY students Mumbi Main, a finance major from Dallas, and Sean Baulch, a management major from Niederwald, work on an adobe home in Taos, N.M., during a spring break Habitat for Humanity building blitz. DBU was instrumental in forming a campus network for Habitat several years ago and has been a frequent participant in Habitat projects.
___Combined, the 36 student volunteers framed, bricked, plastered and roofed five houses during the week.
___In Santa Fe, the students worked on a home for Juanita Gonzalez and her two teenage daughters.
___"When we arrived, there was only a foundation and an exterior of two by fours," said Scott Coleman, director of servant leadership at DBU. "By the time we left, all the interior and exterior walls had been built and installed, the roof had been raised and covered, an attic constructed, and the entire plywood exterior had been built. We were told by the Santa Fe Habitat leaders that our group was the hardest working Collegiate Challenge group they have had this year."
___"The trip was truly amazing, and God was shown through us," said student volunteer Melissa Johnson. "To see how well everyone worked together as a team with their own DBU family and with Habitat supervisors and Americorps people was truly touching."
___Matt Luevano, DBU's Habitat for Humanity chapter co-president, called his experience working with the team in Taos "the best Habitat mission trip I have ever been on."
___"We were able to build an amazing house out of adobe, present the gospel and give Bibles to those we worked with," he explained. "It was wonderful to see God's hands form the work that was done during the week."
___DBU has maintained a close relationship with Habitat since 1989. The university not only was one of the first 10 members of Habitat's campus chapters, but DBU President Gary Cook helped establish the Habitat for Humanity college chapter program in 1987. Over the past 15 years, more than 1,000 DBU students have helped build homes across the nation.
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