Minnesota Student-Athletes Pitch in on Habitat for Humanity Build

On April 15, more than a dozen Minnesota student-athletes got hands-on experience building with Habitat for Humanity in a Minneapolis community. The experience was made possible through a partnership between Habitat for Humanity and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), as part of a $2.5 million commitment made by the NCAA in 2018. This was the third NCAA-sponsored build of the 2022-23 academic year, and the volunteers worked on two buildings with four housing units each.

As part of the build event, attendees heard from Juanita Jensen, an employee at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, who has lived in a home Habitat for Humanity refurbished 30 years ago. Jensen spoke to the student-athletes about the power a home can have on a family, especially children, and the impact their volunteer work will have on others. ...

"I learned a lot about how to put a house together. I had no idea. I didn't have any experience building homes before or working on the interior of a home. It was really fun to just have an inside view of what goes into building a home. But it was just really, really meaningful, too," said Jennifer Callinan, director of career services and relations for Minnesota athletics. "What I hope (student-athletes) take away from today is that what they're doing by being here, showing up and being engaged, means more than they can imagine." 

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