BATON ROUGE — LSU student-athletes will join with the NCAA, Habitat for Humanity International and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge to build a home on Saturday morning with a family that was displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as part of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships.
Members of the gymnastics and women’s soccer teams will help build the frame of the house near the Bernie Moore Track & Field Stadium from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday morning. The student-athletes will be joining with members of the community and volunteers from Lowe’s to help construct the house.
The frame of the home will be left on display until Tuesday, March 25. The home will be moved to a permanent site within the community and be completed at a later time by local volunteers.
The Baton Rouge project is the latest in the NCAA “Home Team” partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, which began in 2005 after hurricanes struck the Gulf Coast. The NCAA has committed $2.5 million for the three-year partnership, which provides donations for the long-term rebuilding effort following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The NCAA is funding the entire cost of the house, which is approximately $65,000. The build is also sponsored by Lowe’s, one of the NCAA’s corporate partners and a corporate supporter of Habitat, which contributed an additional $10,000 to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge for future projects.
This build is also a part of Habitat for Humanity’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project. The Carter Project will match NCAA’s funding to provide the entire cost of a second house which will be built at a later date by local volunteers. Since the relationship between NCAA and Habitat began, more than 1,000 student-athletes and other volunteers have helped build more than 25 homes in partnership with needy families.
In 2006, the NCAA, Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame partnered to construct the “Sue Gunter House.” The project began in Knoxville, Tenn., in conjunction with the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame induction weekend. The home, located on St. Croix Street in Baton Rouge, was presented to Wynethia Thompson and her three sons.
The home was dedicated to the memory of Sue Gunter, former LSU women’s basketball coach and 2000 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. The dedication of the “Gunter House” took place along with 14 other Habitat for Humanity homes in the Baton Rouge area during June 2006.
One of the unique features of the Habitat for Humanity program is that while homeowners purchase these homes at no profit, they must also complete “sweat equity” hours to be eligible, meaning that future homeowners will be working side-by-side with the student-athletes and other volunteers.
During the 2008 Women’s Final Four, the NCAA and Habitat for Humanity will again partner to conduct a Habitat for Humanity build. There will be a home built and provided to a family in the Tampa Bay area.