Brown, his assistant coach and the entire team volunteered the day working at 3211 Third Ave. S. Two shifts of 20 players each spent the morning and afternoon at the partially completed two-bedroom house.
"We did a lot of framing of the interior walls and got some support beams in place for the trusses," Brown said.
Sweat equity
Temperatures hovered in the teens to mid-20s as the group worked alongside other volunteers and the Billings woman who will own the home, Lucy Hernandez. One requirement for Habitat homeowners is that they earn sweat equity by working on their own home and other Habitat homes, said Debra Reiter, volunteer coordinator for the Mid-Yellowstone Valley Habitat for Humanity affiliate.
This is the 39th house the affiliate has built since 1992, Reiter said. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is the major sponsor for the single-family dwelling. Habitat relies entirely on volunteers to build the houses, Reiter said.
"We need support from the community, like we got from the team, and it was really nice to see it all come together," Reiter said.
The players - the largest group to volunteer at one time - went a step further, she said, by bringing a baseball cap, T-shirts and tickets to their games to 13-year-old Chris Hernandez.
"I think that was really a cool thing," Reiter said.
The biggest challenge, Brown said, was finding a day when all of the players could gather to work on the house. The best part was teaming up to extend a helping hand.
"We were helping somebody, and that makes our guys feel good," Brown said.
For Kyle Pryor, a senior captain on the team and a physical education major, Saturday was the first time he had done construction work.
"It was amazing how much we got done," he said. "We actually got done an hour early.
"
Pryor agreed with his coach that helping out was good for the team.
"I think it builds a lot of chemistry, being away from the field and the classroom, being together and using teamwork to build the house," he said.
The MSU-Billings baseball team's participation was arranged by Brittany Quade, employed by AmeriCorps on campus to be an advocate for poverty and homelessness and to be a link to Habitat for Humanity.
Quade hopes to get additional student athletes involved in helping build houses.
Since she started working earlier this fall, the ballplayers are the first to volunteer. She hopes to develop a plan to require all student athletes to participate in community service, something already in place at Montana State University and the University of Montana.
"It's good exposure for our school, and it's good for them to get out and help the community that they're living in," Quade said.
Contact Susan Olp at or 657-1281. Published on Sunday, December 03, 2006.
Last modified on 12/3/2006 at 12:57 am
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If you would like to report an inappropriate comment, Comments currently hidden on this story. Just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all the MSU-Billings Baseball Team and to Brittany Quade for the time and effort in volunteering with Habitat For Humanity. It is people like you who makes people like my family's dreams come true.
We received our house in the year 2000, through Habitat for Humanity, and thanks to the volunteers then it has now become our HOME. Again, Thanks to all the Volunteers who help out with Habitat for Humanity. It is a good feeling when you can take even an hour of your time for others.
God Bless! Not that I agree with Just ONe Thought, but if you READ the article, it says "She hopes to develop a plan to require all student athletes to participate in community service, something already in place at Montana State University and the University of Montana." That is what this person was referring to.
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