Walk aids house building

The Rutgers College Habitat for Humanity is hoping to send volunteers to South Carolina next March without having to dip into its members' wallets.

A walk around Buccleuch Park this weekend was a start.

Fifty-five people came to the group's Walk for Humanity Sunday at the New Brunswick park to raise money for the group's coming trip to build homes for the poor.

The event - a five-kilometer circuit around the park - raised $900.

The money will go toward the expenses the volunteers will face in March, when they will travel to Charleston to do the same sort of work they did in New Brunswick last year at 147 Baldwin St.

"We want to be able to send volunteers without them having to pay money," said chapter Vice President Victoria Mercer, a Rutgers College junior.

Habitat for Humanity - an international Christian organization open to people of all faiths - builds homes using volunteer labor to be sold at no profit, with no interest charged on the mortgage.

Students from all five campuses participate in the Rutgers College branch of Habitat for Humanity.

Chapter President Milan Patel, a Rutgers College junior, said 14 members intend to travel to South Carolina to assist in the efforts of Habitat for Humanity, now in its fourth year at the University.

Wegmans Food Markets Inc., Wawa, ShopRite and Crystal Auto Mall provided refreshments for the participants, while Hewitt Corporation and Rutgers College Governing Association donated funds to the organization.

Z-100 radio station sent two disc jockeys to play music and hold a trivia contest giveaway after the walk, when they gave away CDs, Six Flags Great Adventure tickets and Z-100 merchandise.

The walk started at 3 p.m., and 50 people set off around the park. As time went by, the crowd strung out and bunched up into individual pods of two to five people a few yards from each other.

Kahtija Zahiruddin, Rutgers College junior, summed up the mood of the afternoon.

"It's a nice day for a walk," she said.

Habitat for Humanity emerged at the University after students went to Florida on the Collegiate Challenge, a program where 16- to 24 year-olds build communities during Spring and Winter breaks, Patel said.

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