The Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, alongside hundreds of Indiana University volunteers, is hard at work building another home. This is the seventh year the organization is partnering with Whirlpool and Indiana University's Kelley School of Business to get the job done.
"Their partnership with Monroe County Habitat and with the Kelley School of Business is a natural one because they have long recruited top business school students right out of Kelley."
Whirlpool Corp. suggested years back that the partnership take place on the IU campus. Whirlpool has been involved in Habitat for Humanity for well over a decade. It provides a stove and refrigerator for every Habitat home in the nation. The company has given a total of $95 million to Habitat for Humanity International.
Kerry Thomson is the CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County and she says this is the seventh home Whirlpool is providing full sponsorship for. She says the partnership made sense from the beginning.
"Their partnership with Monroe County Habitat and with the Kelley School of Business is a natural one because they have long recruited top business school students right out of Kelley," Thomson says
Thomson says about 350 volunteers from the university are working to build the home. The CEO, CFO, and the lead manager for one of Whirlpool's businesses are all alums of the Kelley School.
Idie Kesner, the dean of the Kelley School of Business, says the company puts into practice the idea of alumni relations by working with students. And in return, Kesner says the students walk away with real experience.
"Students volunteer to participate in this activity which genuinely means they're interested in giving to the community and really illustrating the kinds of things they're learning in their classroom situations," Kesner says. "And bringing them to light by actually working on a project that will have a completion date and hopefully a very successful outcome for the family involved."
The Wyatt family will move into their new home within the next couple of months. In recent years, they've taken guardianship of their two grand daughters putting them in need of a home.
"There's nothing more critical for our school systems and for our families than to be able to stay in one place because of home ownership."
The couple will pay an interest free mortgage to Habitat for Humanity for the home. Thomson says it's important to understand all the hard work the families put into building these homes, they're not just handed over.
"They're out here on job site," Thomson says. "But, they've been on our job sites for almost a year now working towards the opportunity to buy their own home.
The home is being built over the course of 10 days and will be finished by Saturday, Oct. 1. The Wyatt family will receive the keys to their homes on Saturday before the IU football game at Memorial Stadium. The home will then be moved to the McDoel Gardens neighborhood in Bloomington. There, the foundation is built and the plumbing gets connected and once that's completed, it's ready for the family.
"They will move into this house, they will become city property tax payers, they'll become permanent neighbors in their neighborhood," Thomson says. "And those girls will receive the stability of never having to move again and in our community where poverty equates to transiency there is nothing more critical for our school systems and for our families than to be able to stay in one place because of home ownership."
