During devastating times when people within the community feel hopeless, Habitat’s volunteers from the organization Habitat For Humanity help to build them a new beginning. Act! Speak! Build! intends to bring awareness to the organization’s mission.

“You’re looking at a club that isn’t raising money for the club itself but it is bent on trying to help the community at large. Every single dime that [was] contributed to Act, Speak, Build week goes back into [the] Habitat of Lake County,” Joe May, Habitat for Humanity sponsor, said. “[The donations] will provide for better communities and help even areas that are struggling or are run down. [They] buy some of those properties that have been abandoned so they can turn them into new houses and communities.”

A students’ donation has the power to make a difference in the community, May said. Students can contribute to affect change beyond Act, Speak, Build week, by visiting Habitat For Humanity’s official website where donations are accepted all year round.

Raising funds has become more difficult, according to Emma Daleske, junior and club member, even though the money is for such a good cause.

“There have been some changes in how we get donations,” Daleske said. “Before when [the school] just had cash in the lunchroom, we’d be able to stand by the cash registers and collect money, but since people now use the cards instead, we’ve had to change it up and walk around, which has made it more difficult to get donations.”

Their ability to obtain donations in recent years is not the only thing that is difficult for these students, May said. The students have to do tasking jobs like demolishing and building the houses for those in the community who need as well as volunteer to participate in restore day.

“Restore is a store where you can purchase things you would need around the house when you’re building a house. [As a volunteer], you go there [on your restore day] and you basically become an employee for the day,” Daleske said. “You get to help people who are looking for things, you get to reorganize, you make sure everything is clean. It’s just a place to resell items that have been sold a lot.”

The ability to practice being an employee is not the only helpful factor that these students learn after being in this club, May said.

“While it definitely teaches students some valuable skills not only on the work site but also in terms of philanthropy,  its mission is to improve the society that you’re in,” May said. “I think we need more clubs like that to help students realize that opportunities like that really exist.”