Wednesday, April 14, 1999
Students to build family a home
Roger Bacon part of Habitat for Humanity
BY BERNIE MIXON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ST. BERNARD — Through a donation of sweat and hard work, students at Roger Bacon High School soon will begin making the dream of home ownership come true for a family of nine.
By pledging to build a Habitat for Humanity home in Mount Auburn, Roger Bacon also becomes the first Tristate high school to financially sponsor and build a Habitat for Humanity house.
A schoolwide assembly will be held this morning to explain the project to students. The school will begin registering workers for the Habitat project after the assembly.
“The kids at Roger Bacon are involved in a lot of community service,” said Jim Swedenburg, a school spokesman. “We hope this will be one more example of working with the community and reaching out to people in need.”
Construction will begin at the house at 113 Winkler St. — the first Habitat project in Mount Auburn — following ground-breaking on May 22, school officials said.
The project is the idea of Dan Gibbons, a 1958 graduate of the school. “He is a real enthusiastic kind of guy. People here started thinking what a neat idea it was,” Mr. Swedenburg said.
A steering committee led by Mr. Gibbons investigated the possibility of building a house. “It just kind of took off,” Mr. Swedenburg said.
Help with financing the project recently came from the Ohio Casualty Group of Insurance Companies, named co-sponsor of the house.
The company donated $25,000 to the effort, Mr. Swedenburg said.
“A lot of the construction will be done by alumni, friends, parents and faculty,” Mr. Swedenburg said. “We expect seniors and some juniors to get involved in it. A lot of the younger kids may help raise money to support it.”
John P. Cerniglia, executive director of Cincinnati Habitat for Humanity, said the high school is the first to provide the funding, the leadership to manage the project and the construction labor.
“This is a nonprofit institution and by its mission is one geared to serving a diversity of people,” Mr. Cerniglia said. “It's logical to link the Habitat mission and the mission of the school.”
The school hopes construction will be completed in November in time for the family to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in a new home.
School officials hope this house will be an example to students of how volunteering can help others.
“This will be a hands-on experience for many of them. This is something that years later they can drive by the house and say, "My school built this,'” Mr. Swedenburg said.
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