This Spring Break, (March 27-31) seven Lasallians from Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, made the decision to set aside their plans of basking in the glow of no alarms, homework or responsibilities, and headed for Elizabethtown, Kentucky to team up with Hardin County Habitat for Humanity and their goal of helping to provide affordable housing to those in need.

Montini teachers, Mr. Denis Block (also Montini's Lasallian Youth Group moderator) and Mr. Barry Briggs traveled with students Blake Holtquist '24, Zander Montgomery '24, Howard Hall '23, Henry Dawson '25 and David Hernandez '24 - arriving in Kentucky on Sunday, March 26th. Their first stop, Krogers, to stock up on much needed nourishment and supplies for the week. The group was housed and fed nightly at Grace Church in Elizabethtown.

Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit housing organization working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in approximately 70 countries. Habitat’s vision is of a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

For more than 30 years, Habitat has provided school break (spring and summer) volunteer opportunities to high school and college students. Since the program began in the late 80s, more than 260,000 have committed to building safe, affordable homes across the United States. Mr. Block and his teams have been traveling once, sometimes twice a year to aid in this effort and learn about substandard living conditions and how affordable housing builds strength, stability and self-reliance for homeowners.

"My interest in going on these Habitat trips started when I was in high school as a way to help those in need while working with my hands," said Mr. Block who hopes to inspire his students in a way that he was inspired in his youth by youth and campus ministers and teachers throughout his grade school, college, and grad school days.  "Now that I am taking students on these trips, I have really enjoyed knowing them outside of the classroom and seeing them grow as young adults. They are taking responsibility and working hard to accomplish something great."

Habitat welcomes volunteers with any skill level on their build sites, even beginners. On-site construction leaders trained Montini's volunteers who were tasked with drywall spackling, painting, and installing flooring and trim. "This was a great team. Mr. Briggs and the students were all hard workers and really took initiative to accomplish our duties."

Sophomore Henry Dawson was very happy he was able to experience the service trip. "It was alot of hard work and very tiring, but it felt good to be able to help others in this way. I had no idea I would be able to learn some of the things we learned - about putting up trim, spackling and painting." Henry was also happy to be able to visit Abraham Lincoln's birthplace one afternoon and Mammoth Cave as a reward after their last day of work and before heading back to Lombard. "It was fun getting to know students I hadn't met before. Howard made us all French toast one morning, we played basketball with some local kids and beat Mr. Briggs at Yahtzee!"

"It is important for young people to realize that life is not about themselves," adds Block. "It is our Christian responsibility to serve others, especially those on the margins. Not only that, but it is important to learn the value of sacrifice. We cannot always do what we want. Sometimes we need to sacrifice our wants for the needs of others."

Image above:  Montini Catholic's team in front of their completed home: l to r: Mr. Denis Block, David Hernandez (Westchester), Howard Hall (Romeoville), Blake Holtquist (Lombard), Zander Montgomery (Lomard), Henry Dawson (Villa Park) and Mr. Barry Briggs