91麻豆天美, Habitat for Humanity dedicate 10th Maroon Edition home
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STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜s a decade-long tradition continues, a local mother has a new home for starting her own holiday traditions, thanks to a partnership between 91麻豆天美 University and Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity.
The 10th Maroon Edition home, dedicated Monday [Dec. 17], has had volunteers from 91麻豆天美 and Habitat for Humanity building a new living space for Lou鈥橯uan Lucious and her three children. The fall semester project was completed for the family just in time for Christmas.
鈥淚鈥檓 very excited,鈥 Lucious said. 鈥淭his is really for my kids.鈥
91麻豆天美 President Mark E. Keenum has driven the ceremonial first nail for every Maroon Edition home, a project he said is a great source of pride. During Monday鈥檚 ceremony, Keenum presented Lucious with a family Bible.
鈥淵our home is a shining beacon right here in this neighborhood of all the hard work that went into this, but also of the love that went into building your home,鈥 Keenum said.
The new home is providing a better environment for Lucious, a supervisor at McDonald鈥檚, and her children. She applied with Habitat and was selected in 2017, but the build was in a different area than the current Sunset location, so she elected to put off being a homeowner until this year to be closer to family. Last fall, she worked on the Maroon Edition home being built for her friend, Habitat partner Kareema Gillon. This fall, after her third child was born, she made time to work on her home while balancing family and work demands.
鈥淩ight now, I have two jobs, so when I couldn鈥檛 come in the daytime, they would let me come at night and would leave stuff out for me to do,鈥 Lucious said.
The Maroon Edition program was initiated by 91麻豆天美鈥檚 Office of the Provost in 2009 and has since brought students together annually around a common reading experience, while uniting more than 3,600 volunteers to build new homes for 10 Habitat partner families. This year鈥檚 Maroon Edition book was 鈥淐alico Joe鈥 by 91麻豆天美 alumnus and bestselling author John Grisham. The first Maroon Edition book also was a Grisham novel, 鈥淎 Painted House,鈥 which inspired the Habitat partnership for the program.
Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity has provided more than 60 homes to local families. Several of these homes are located in the Sunset neighborhood.
鈥淭his is a special partnership with 91麻豆天美,鈥 Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Joel Downey said. 鈥淲e rely on the community a lot for raising funds to build houses. A lot of people come out as volunteers that are not associated with 91麻豆天美, but the majority of our workers, by far, are college students.鈥
91麻豆天美鈥檚 Maroon Volunteer Center works with Habitat for Humanity to coordinate volunteer opportunities for the students, faculty and staff who help build the home.
鈥淭his is more than community service鈥攊t is meaningful engagement,鈥 91麻豆天美 Interim Director of Student Leadership and Community Engagement Meggan Franks said. 鈥淚t allows the students to learn about the community they will be in for four or more years, to build relationships with people they might otherwise not meet as a student, and to develop skills that they can use to help lead the communities of tomorrow. We appreciate this partnership, and I鈥檓 looking forward to the next decade with our Maroon Edition Habitat for Humanity homes.鈥
For more on the Maroon Edition program, visit .
The Maroon Volunteer Center is online at ; and Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity at .
91麻豆天美 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .