by Simon Fox ’24
December 5, 2023
The author has been a member of USN Habitat since 9th grade and presently is one of 10 leaders of the club.
USN students and families who ran the 3.1 miles of the Habitat for Humanity 5K, sponsored by FlySouth on November 11, had a lot of fun, but the best result was the more than $10,000 raised to help Nashville residents afford homes.
Lack of housing is one of Nashville’s most pressing problems, and USN’s Habitat For Humanity Club is devoted to improving access to affordable homes. The club builds houses for Nashville residents while informing students of Nashville’s housing crisis. Since the club’s founding in 2009, student leaders and faculty sponsor Matthew Haber ‘98 have organized annual 5K races, spaghetti suppers, and other events to fundraise for an annual home build in the Spring.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville sets a financial requirement of $8,750 for organizations to sponsor their own build day. Every year since 2009, the USN club has met this requirement, qualifying for its own build day and contributing to the construction of 14 homes in the club’s 14-year existence.
While the funds USN provides are critical, Habitat homes are not free to their residents. Contrary to popular belief, homeowners pay for and work alongside Habitat volunteers to build their homes. According to Habitat’s website, volunteers save Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville about $25,000 per home in labor costs, which helps make Habitat homes affordable for future homeowners.
Habitat at USN is also an educational experience for its members. Most participating students in the high school are exposed for the first time to Nashville’s affordable housing crisis, nonprofit fundraising, and actual construction projects.
Habitat Club members spend the first half of the fall semester contacting family friends, local businesses, and restaurants to solicit sponsors and advertise the race. The 5K raises the majority of its money from sponsors, while the Spaghetti Supper relies on revenue from families buying meal tickets at the annual USN Homecoming basketball game. This year, the club expects to bring in additional revenue by lining up a title sponsor for the Spaghetti Supper. Additional revenue streams in from students babysitting, marketed as Parents Night Out services, for lower school families.
USN Habitat is growing in its fundraising and its awareness among students. “People just come to sort of expect [the annual 5K and Spaghetti Supper], and because of that, [the events] grow,” Haber said.
The club’s growth has a lot to do with Haber’s own recognition in his third year of teaching, nearly 15 years ago, of an imbalance in public service at USN.
“I went to Betty White, who at the time was the Director of Service Learning, and I was like, ‘Just keep an eye out for a project,’” Haber said. “I specifically told her that I’d love to do something that would maybe be appealing to boys, because the vast majority of high school kids who [were] doing service are girls.”
Then, when Athletic Director Josh Scouten asked Haber about the possibility of Habitat taking over Spaghetti Supper from the cheerleaders, who ran the event to fund uniform purchases, he and the Habitat Club agreed. Since then, the club has consistently hit its fundraising goals — even during COVID, when the club conducted a virtual 5K.
Beyond the fundraising and construction experience the club provides, Haber appreciates the fact that Habitat intentionally creates events for the whole K-12 community.
“As a K-12 school, we don’t have a ton of opportunities to feel like a K-12 school. With Habitat, we’ve always sought that out,” Haber said.
He adds, “Something that stood out to me in recent years is hearing from leaders like yourself, who remember going to the spaghetti supper and the 5K [in lower and middle school] and now they’re excited to lead.”
