Members of the Purdue University North Central Construction Club and Powers & Sons Construction Company, of Northwest Indiana, recently worked together to collect and transport unused, spare materials from a completed Powers & Sons project to the Gary and Michigan City Habitat for Humanity ReStores.
PNC Construction Club members Robert Kennedy and Jeremy Booker, are both PNC Construction Engineering Management Technology majors who recently joined the Powers & Sons team. Kennedy approached Powers & Sons to suggest the donation.
As president of the PNC Construction Club, Kennedy has worked behind the scenes to solidify a relationship between the Construction Club and Habitat for Humanity. Construction Club members have volunteered with Habit for Humanity projects throughout Northwest Indiana through the years and Kennedy knew that club members would welcome the opportunity to work with Powers & Sons to facilitate this donation.
Therefore, he asked if Powers & Sons would be willing to donate some surplus materials to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore so that the new and unused materials could be put to use to benefit Habitat for Humanity and the communities it serves. Powers & Sons agreed to donate 30 large windows, 20 small windows and eight cabinets that were divided for use between the Gary and Michigan City Habitat for Humanity Restores.
“This was a tremendous combined effort,” said Kennedy, who was hired in January at Powers & Sons as a project engineer and is currently assigned as field project manager for a $4.8 million addition at an elementary school in Chicago. “This was a very generous donation from Powers & Sons and the Construction Club members were happy to help get the materials to Habitat for Humanity.”
Powers & Sons brought the materials from a job site in Chicago to its offices in Gary. The Construction Club rented a truck that it used to make the deliveries to the Habitat for Humanity sites. Kennedy, Booker and Derrick Cotten, a Construction Engineering Management Technology at Purdue University Calumet and Powers & Sons project engineer, all volunteered to help. PNC Construction Club faculty advisor Martha Garcia-Saenz, associate professor of Construction Engineering and Management Technology, and her husband Ivan Saenz, drove the rental truck and helped load and unload the truck as well.
The Habitat for Humanity ReStores are non-profit home improvement stores and donation centers that sell new and gently used furniture, home goods, building materials and appliances at a fraction of the retail price. This greatly helps local Habitat for Humanity affiliates fund the construction, rehabilitation or repair of affordable homes within the communities they serve.
The materials donated from Powers & Sons will be used to further Habitat for Humanity’s mission of building homes, communities and hope.
“Powers & Sons Construction Company is honored to continue support for Habitat for Humanity and the ReStore facilities, “ said Mamon Powers Jr., CEO and chairman of the board. “Powers & Sons and Purdue North Central Construction Club are eager to continue serving this distinguished non-profit organization.”