Students and faculty broke ground Wednesday on the fourth home constructed by the Habitat for Humanity chapter at Syracuse University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

The new home will be located at 649 Gifford St., in the city’s Near Westside neighborhood.

Chancellor Nancy Cantor spoke before the groundbreaking ceremony and said the new home was a symbol of the university’s sustained commitment to the community through the Near Westside Initiative, which aims to revitalize the neighborhood. An all-female crew will be building a second home in a nearby lot.

The home is paid for in part by a fundraising initiative that began with September’s Shack-A-Thon, in which there was a record-breaking number of participants. Members of 12 student organizations constructed plywood shacks on the Quad and occupied them overnight.

Suzanne Williams, executive director at Syracuse Habitat for Humanity, said during Shack-A-Thon that the SU/ESF chapter of Habitat is the only chapter in Syracuse able to raise funds for an entire house, according to a Sept. 27 article in The Daily Orange.

Most Habitat homes within a regional chapter follow the same three-bedroom construction plan, though the plans may be modified to better suit the new owners, Williams said at Wednesday’s groundbreaking.

In the lot adjacent to the Gifford home, Habitat will construct a four-bedroom home sponsored and constructed entirely by women.

The Syracuse chapter has a goal of building five houses. The campus and city chapters have worked together on each of these. There is not set date to begin construction.

Kip Coerper, the project’s assistant construction manager, will help guide construction, Williams said. Coerper, a native of Dorchester, S.C., already helped construct five houses in South Carolina, which allows him to manage greater numbers of volunteers at a time, Williams said.

‘We feel mightily that God has taken us where we’ve been,’ Coerper said.

Coerper came to the Syracuse area when he followed his wife, a pastor, to St. James Episcopal Church in Skaneateles, N.Y. He also volunteers for the Auburn chapter of Habitat for Humanity because of its proximity to his home in Skaneateles, he said.

Coerper is not the only Habitat member from outside Syracuse. Michael Brownfield, the home’s construction manager, and his wife moved from the heat of Scottsdale, Ariz., two months ago.

‘I wish I had a nickel for everyone who asks me why I moved here,’ Brownfield said.

Brownfield moved to Syracuse on Sept. 1 to begin work with the Syracuse chapter of Habitat. Despite the timing, Brownfield and his wife sacrificed a warm winter because of their love of Habitat’s good work as a not-for-profit institution, he said. Brownfield would be willing to travel even farther north to help the organization, he said.

‘I probably would have went to the tundra, to be honest,’ he said.

Part of the allure of Habitat is its dedication to sustainability measures, he said. Syracuse Habitat homes have EnergyStar certification and radiant heating, both of which keep utility bills low for families that move in, he said.

After more than 30 years of construction experience, Brownfield sees a special meaning in his work for Habitat.

‘We’re constantly moving the bar,’ he said. ‘I’m as proud of what we’re doing here as anything I’ve done before.’

geclarke@syr.edu

Published on November 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm