Madison Bowe / Winonan

It’s not common for Winona State University clubs to spend most of their time off campus, but for the Habitat for Humanity club, being off campus is an average occurrence. The Winona State’s Habitat for Humanity club works with the Winona Fillmore County Habitat to support the community by building and reconstructing homes, which they call “builds.”

“Builds are when we go to the housing site and help with the construction of the house,” junior Jennifer Maier explained.

The club strives to serve the community and increase the well being of others. The group often holds fundraising events to raise money for the Winona Fillmore County Habitat. The county habitat uses the money for supplies and construction materials, all things needed for improving the homes in the community.

“We have held fundraising events such as bake sales, chili soup dinner, T-shirt sales and we have held 5k races during Halloween time,” Maier said.

However, the group does not have to do much to stay busy. They are almost constantly working on a new build or planning for one. Completely staffed by volunteers, most weeks bring them a new build; in the colder months they may only do a build every other week. Nevertheless, these builds are labor intensive.

“We have such a passionate group of volunteers that all want to help out in the community anywhere we can,” Maier said.

Spring break brings the club new adventures. Every year they travel across the country to participate in the Collegiate Challenge. They travel to a work site where they work eight-hour days at a particular work site that needs their help. In the past years they have traveled to Big Fork, Mont. and Laredo, Texas.

“This year I am participating as well and we are traveling to Tacoma, Wash. In the past, I know they have gone to Florida as well,” Maier said

The club is different than most clubs at Winona State, because of the hours of work they put in. The students donate hours of their time, time they could be using to study or spend time with friends, to better the lives of others. Maier believes it takes a selfless kind of person to participate in something like this.

“Doing hours of volunteer work because the person enjoys it and does it out of the goodness of their heart shows a lot of character, in my opinion,” Maier said.

The main goals for the club are to raise as much money as they can for the community Habitat and help with builds. Members of Habitat for Humanity said they are proud of the work they have done around the community and are very proud of the changes and impact they have made.