Aquinas Institute of Rochester

Students pitch in to help Habitat for Humanity
AQ opens first high school chapter
Bennett J. Loudon

Aquinas Institute students Kristen Doherty, left, and Andrea Musher, both 17, clean all the windows as they help build a Flower City Habitat For Humanity home at 235 Campbell St. on Tuesday. (SHAWN DOWD staff photographer)

Flower City Habitat for Humanity has been around for 25 years. And Sister Sue Hoffman wants to make sure it's still around 25 or more years.

So the 63-year-old Sister of St. Joseph who serves as high school and college program coordinator for Flower City Habitat for Humanity, started what she calls the Summer Youth Immersion Program.

"They have enthusiasm. They have dedication. They have vision. They have energy, and, as I'm getting older, I think the torch needs to be passed to a new generation," said Hoffman.

This is the second year of the weeklong program in which a dozen high school students spend a week together, living at the St. Boniface Convent on Gregory Street, working on Habitat homes under construction in the city and learning about the inner workings of the organization.

On Tuesday, the group of 12 students worked at homes on Campbell Street and Jay Street, painting, cleaning, and doing landscaping.

The local chapter is part of an international organization that builds homes for low-income families. Flower City Habitat has built 168 homes.

Homeowners put in 450 hours of sweat equity and they pay about $450 per month on a 20-year no-interest mortgage.

Aquinas students Brandon Kallen, 16, left, and Joey Vay, 17, landscape a yard for a Habitat For Humanity home on Campbell Street. (SHAWN DOWD staff photographer)

Aquinas students Brandon Kallen, 16, left, and Joey Vay, 17, landscape a yard for a Habitat For Humanity home on Campbell Street. (SHAWN DOWD staff photographer)

The students this year are from Nazareth Academy, Brighton High School and Aquinas Institute, which is the first Rochester-area high school to start an official Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter.

Students at Aquinas have raised about $2,000 for Habitat. And the Aquinas students hope to sponsor construction of a home in the spring or summer of 2010.

"I think it's something I'm going to continue for the rest of my life," said Nick Croce, 17, president of the Aquinas chapter.

BLOUDON@DemocratandChronicle.com

Democrat and Chronicle August 19, 2009
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