CAITLIN WHITE
Staff Writer
The most recent service project on campus offers the chance to help students house the homeless while bolstering their contracting skills.
The Pepperdine sponsored Habitat House project is headed up by Dr. Regan Schaffer, assistant professor of management, who has been involved with Habitat for 10 years. An advisor to the non-profit community service group American Humanic Scholars, Schaffer wrote a grant for the house, and the Wood-Claeyssens Foundation agreed to provide the funding for the house.
“This is such an exciting chance for the Pepperdine community to come together as a whole,” Schaffer said.
The Pierre Pepperdine House is named after Pierre Claeyssen, a local philanthropist who has been very active in Ventura County.
“We wanted to name the house for him because of all the generosity he has shown,” Schaffer says.
The local chapter of Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County is the oldest chapter in California. Through a detailed application process, Habitat chooses needy low-income families, to be recipients of houses. They are given a 30-year no-interest loan and are required to put in 500 hours of “sweat-equity” labor on the house, as well.
The unique thing about the Pepperdine Habitat House project is that the plan to serve includes more than just building a structure, Schaffer said.
“Our theme is ‘More Than a House,’ we are planning to have students involved in service learning through tutoring in the neighborhood as well,” Schaffer said. “Most programs just go in and build a house, then leave. But we want to sort of adopt the neighborhood.”
The neighborhood is Villa Cesar Chavez, a complex in Oxnard that includes six other houses Habitat is building for other low-income families. The American Humanics Scholars, a national philanthropic group with a Pepperdine chapter, is the main community service group devoting their time to this project, but any and all volunteers are welcome and needed.
“We would love to have anyone affiliated with Pepperdine out to work on the house,” Schaffer said.
Many people do not know much about the Habitat for Humanity organization in general, and Dr. Ginger Rosenkrans, assistant professor of advertising, said she wants to change that.
Students in Rosenkrans’ Advertising 475 class will compete with each other to design an ad campaign for Habitat for Humanity. The project will encompass designs ranging from print materials to bus wrap banners. Habitat will choose one campaign from those proposed by the student groups and use it in their advertising.
In addition to getting experience in real life advertising, students also get the chance to help a really great cause, Rosenkrans said. Jen Tokin, a senior in Dr. Rosenkrans’ class, shares the professor’s enthusiasm for the project.
“I’m excited to apply the principles of advertising I’ve learned to achieve something,” Tokin said.
As far as strategy for winning the ad campaign, she said, “We want to be able to appeal to people who will donate money to Habitat. Especially here in Malibu, people have so much money, and they don’t really know what to do with it. If we can touch something in them, then they might contribute.”
For Schaffer, the project is a logical development.
“It makes sense, because their mission of service matches our own purpose,” Schaffer said.
Aside from Rosenkran’s involvement, Schaffer’s business class is working on a business plan to help Habitat expand one of it’s other projects, the Re-Store, which is described as a “building materials thrift store.” The store sells used materials at reduced prices. All materials still meeting building code standards but help to reduce the cost of construction.
This Saturday is Site Blessing Ceremony and Building Blitz. The event will be from 10 to 11 a.m. and will provide the opportunity to meet both the donors who made the house possible and the family who will live in the house.
“I hope everyone can find a time to come work on the house,” Schaffer said. “This is definitely a partnership between students, faculty and Habitat.”
09-21-2006