Act! Speak! Build!

On the heals of Collegiate Challenge, which we in Saline County affectionately coined Habitat's March Madness. Habitat's youth students in Youth United, a chapter of Habitat for Humanity that mobilizes youth, participated in Habitat for Humanity's Act! Speak! Build! Week. A week dedicated to advocating for decent, affordable housing by engaging elected officials and their community to eradicate poverty housing.

Bringing awareness to poverty housing was the theme of the week, Youth United students brought awareness to their local churches and schools about poverty housing in Saline County. The Mayor's Youth Council got involved in advocating and raising awareness by "stickering" the lunch room with Habitat for Humanity stickers and promoting the SleepOut. Throughout the week, Youth United students took to social media outlets to bring awareness and advocate to eliminate poverty housing. They tweeted elected officials statistics about local poverty issues, and tweeted US Congress members to sign on to Rep. Lewis' Colleague letter to advocate for foreign poverty issues. The students used Instagram and Facebook to promote events throughout the week.

The week kicked off with a Chick-fil-A Fundraiser Night. While we are still awaiting the monetary results from Chick-fil-A, the evening was triumphant because Youth United students were able to bring awareness to Saline County residents about local poverty housing issues as they served Chick-fil-A customers. Benton Middle School students participated in a Penny Wars contest, which raised $362.43, and donated all of the money to the Youth United 2014 Build. Act! Speak! Build! Week culminated with a SleepOut event, which took place on the Courthouse Lawn, a perfect setting in the middle of downtown Benton to raise awareness and advocate to eradicate poverty housing in Saline County. Local officials were invited to observe the SleepOut, which commenced with check presentation ceremony.
State Farm, a corporate sponsor for Habitat for Humanity youth programs donated $10,000 toward the 2014 Youth United Build. After the check presentation, the students began building houses out of cardboard boxes. The evening was filled with games, crafts, Zumba, and a drive-in movie on the Courthouse Lawn. Although the evening turned slightly chilly, the twenty-two students had fun and were able to truly grasp the reality of poverty housing conditions. The SleepOut ended with a Pancake Breakfast, which raised $520.00. As of right now, Youth United students were able to raise a total of $11,058.43; all proceeds will go to the 2014 Youth United Build.