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'Blitz Build Brings
Students Together
Members of Habitat for
Humanity organized a
weekend of house building
by volunteers last semester.
By Jermaine Caldwell
Staff Writer
Wood was scattered everywhere, saw
dust flew wild, hammers banged in uni
son and smiles appeared on many faces.
Everything came together for one
goal - Orange County’s first University
Blitz Build.
“Come out with closed-toe shoes and
a good attitude,” senior Tia Lendo said
over the loud speaker in the Pit.
Lendo and other Habitat for
Humanity members prepared for a
weekend of construction by building
saw horses and raising awareness.
Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit
organization formed in 1976, uses vol
unteers to build houses for homeless
families.
These families pay back the no-inter
est loan in small installments.
A blitz build is the construction of a
Habitat house in a short amount of time.
Creativity Proves Key
For Budget Decorating
By Rudy Kleystliber
Staff Writer
Since the dawn of time, the story of
homo sapiens has been one of civiliza
tion, colonization and customization.
Residence hall rooms are no exception.
But quality interior designing doesn’t
usually come cheap. So students at
UNC use their brains to keep their dec
orating costs low.
“You can recycle things such as old
calendars and art projects, and shop at
thrift stores for furniture,” said Jason
Howell, a junior from Rocky Mount.
Howell said the key to inexpensive
design was being resourceful.
Howell and his roommate also kin
dled their flames of creativity to give
their room a tropical climate.
They cut paper “flames" out of con
struction paper for two Tiki torches and
constructed two large palm trees with
cardboard carpet rolls for trunks and
fronds made from green butcher paper.
Sophomore Mary Wood said the key
to inexpensive decoration was an active
imagination.
“Things you’d normally put up in the
shower you can put up in your room to
hold stuff,” Wood said, explaining that
she used a shower rack to hold shampoo
and soap in her room.
If you’re really trying to set a mood in
your room, ambient lighting is every
thing, and nothing shows dust and pim
ples better than fluorescent tubes.
“For lighting, you can always get an
But planning for the blitz began months
before the actual building.
As co-chairmen of the blitz. Lendo
and her partner Derek Blackwelder
inquired about a UNC blitz build while
in Charleston, S.C.. for last year’s UNC
Habitat for Humanity Fall Break trip.
Orange County officials had wanted
UNC to get involved with Habitat for
Humanity’s Celebration 2000, the con
struction of 11 houses in one year.
Lendo and Blackwelder were just in
time.
One difference between a regular
Habitat house and a blitz house is that
the sponsors of the blitz build have to
raise half of the cost of the house. In this
case, the amount was $25,000.
Even though organizers held several
fund-raising activities during the last
year, they still have $7,500 left to raise.
But students and faculty alike worked
side by side to see the project through.
UNC student Alexandra Manchik
remembered the last time they had a
hammer in their hands.
“To hang the posters in our rooms,”
she said.
“Habitat seemed like a little family,”
said Manchik, a junior from Grand
Island, Neb.
incandescent torchiere lamp,” Howell
said. “You can also get icicle lights or
regular Christmas lights and hang them
around your room for a festive effect.”
To give a sure-fire tasteful flair to a
residence hall room, consider curtains.
“They made the room look a little bit
homelier,” Wood said. “It feels like a jail
cell if you don’t decorate it.”
Wood said she purchased her curtains
from Wal-Mart, where they cost her
between $lO and sls. Stores like W r al-
Mart, Kmart and Target can provide
inexpensive solutions for decor.
But in interior design, as in the rest of
life, everyone knows that the best things
are always free. “You can get movie
posters from a video store for free usu
ally,” Howell said. Collages from mag
azine photos and pompoms from foot
ball games are other decorations that
cost nothing.
When all other sources of gratis gar
nishes have been exhausted, there’s
always one more fallback - gifts from
Mom and Dad.
Caleb Pineo, a sophomore from
Meadville, Penn., said his mother gave
him curtains to put up in his room.
Pineo said his curtains were a simple
but unique addition to the room. “They
actually kind of match the pull-down
shade,” Pineo said.
But in the world of free residence hall
decorations, beggars can’t be choosers.
“They are kind of lacy and stuff, but I
don’t care much about the image that
the room gives off.”
Housing Guide
DTH FILE PHOTO
Emily Wurth (left to right), Judy McCarty, Zubin Eapen and Rishi Oza help biology Professor Alan Jones
on the first University Blitz Build, sponsored by Habitat for Humanity.
“Plus you learn the many different
kinds of nails.”
A UNC faculty member led each
team, which was composed of about five
UNC student volunteers.
Sociology Professor Charlie
Kurzman was in charge of six sociology
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“In an era where no one wants to pay
taxes and the need for public assistance
is very real, people who don’t want the
government to do it should help take
care of folks through nonprofit collective
efforts,” he said.
Tuesday, February 8, 2000
Kurzman, who helps Habitat most
Wednesday mornings, said volunteering
to build a house gave people a different
perspective on the process.
Kurzmann said, “(They have) more
compassion to the folks building their
future houses.”
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