FARMINGTON — The first time Angela West and other members of the Rotaract Club at the University of Maine at Farmington recently worked on a Habitat for Humanity house it was without previous carpentry experience.

The UMF senior and secretary of the campus student branch of Rotary International, was one of more than a dozen club members, mostly women, who traveled to the Auburn-area home project a couple times this semester. While wanting to contribute, they also came away with some benefits.

“I couldn’t swing a hammer the first time. It took 20 whacks to drive a nail but at the end I did it in five,” West, of Farmington,  said of the first experience. “I also made some new friends.”

Perhaps even more important, they learned to figure out how to do things, said club adviser Alison Terry, assistant professor of psychology at UMF.

“It pushed their boundaries but they learned they can do these things. Although some were afraid of heights, they were up on the roof raising beams,” she said.

The group has grown this year, tripling their membership, as they’ve undertaken other service projects.

Terry attributes the growth to new club officers, students now in college who participated in the student-led Rotary high school version, Interact, and the work done on the Habitat for Humanity house.

“It gave them something tangible to see that we made some change. They met the father of the family who was going to live there and it made it more real for them,” she said.

Club members brought friends along to help with projects from hoisting beams on the roof to putting up siding.

The group that meets every other week to discuss projects and make plans helped the local Rotary Club with a pajama drive for the Children’s Task Force. The drive provides a new pair of pajamas for children to sleep in Christmas night, she said.

They decorated a Christmas tree for the Rotary’s Festival of Trees, which were auctioned off and raised $500 for charity. And they helped with Operation Santa Claus.

“It was inspirational for the students,” Terry said. “They saw what people around here need. An elderly woman wanted a bath towel and other requests were for simple items like blank CDs and computer paper, coats and boots. It really touched them. They distributed tags to students, staff and faculty and collected donations.”

The group also sponsors a child in Guatemala through Safe Passage. They receive a budget from the Student Senate and the local Rotary Club helps fund their charitable efforts, she said.

West joined the group because she’s always been involved in volunteering and enjoys it, especially when it involves children.

For the next semester, the group is brainstorming ideas for projects, although West mentioned plans for an elementary school project to raise awareness of sun protection. They also hope to return and help work on the Habitat for Humanity house.

Terry, a Farmington Rotarian, was involved with Rotary in high school when she became a Rotary exchange student to Denmark and was involved in leadership workshop opportunities offered by the Rotary.

“It confirmed that I’d give back to the next generation,” she said. Now she hopes these students of Rotaract will one day give back from what they are learning now.

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Angela
West of Farmington joined University of Maine Farmington Rotaract Club members to help Auburn’s Habitat for Humanity build a home recently for an area family.

Submitted photo

University of Maine at Farmington Rotaract Club members helped Habitat for Humanity build a home in Auburn this semester.