Bloomington High School North, Nikean, 2003, Page 156

Description:	■Habitat Tor rlumanit4Habitat for Humanity gets ready to hand over their house.by Maggie KinkeadLuz Balbuena had tears running down her face as shespoke in a rapid Spanish to an enraptured audience. Theaudience was made up of an eclectic group ranging fromfreshmen in high school to retirees, some spoke onlySpanish, others only English. Yet they all shared a commonthread. All had helped to build a house.The Habitat for Humanity home of Richard Giron andhis wife Luz Balbuena and their two children Claudia, twelve,andGonzalo, seven, was completed on April 26. The house wasthe second annual to be co-sponsored by the BloomingtonHigh School North chapter of Habitat for Humanity.Pat Wilson, the Habitat for Humanity sponsor at Northwas elated about the build.There is just such an amazing impact on communityawareness when projects like this are completed, saidWilson. You look at a house like this, a good well-madehouse , and you say If I can do this theres nothing in theworld that I cant tackle. And thats what we want to be tellingthe high school community.Giron echoed Wilsons sentiments as he walked intohis completed house.I dont know how this is possible. I am very, veryhappy. Its the best time of my life. I never thought to be theowner of my home. Now I understand how the people help other peopleCharles Sloan and Josh Kelly congratulate the new owners.It is important to help, said Giron.The Bloomington North chapter holds a membership of over 100people who have worked towards the completion of this second housesince May of last year.Senior Charles Sloan, co-president of habitat, remembers to longhours of fundrasing.We began in the summer and did a variety of different things andthen in the fall we would hawk at the IU (football) games, then came thegarage sale which raised about 5,000 dollars. Our biggest event,though, was the City Grille Winter Fundraiser. That took about twomonths to plan and put together, but it was our most successfulendeavor. We raised almost 14,000 dollars with that one.The success of their fundraisers allowed the Giron/Balbuena familyto have a roof over their head, a sentiment echoed in the manyspeeches presented at the opening.Above: Josh Kelly, Charles Sloan, Jen Carmin, Beth Caseand Amy Link work at the Habitat for Humanity Garage sale.156mm
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomnorth/id/5389
Collection:	Bloomington High School North

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