Posted on Nov 1, 2007

With some sweat and muscle, a Barrett Street house will be completely remade as part of Habitat for Humanity’s latest project.

Union College donated the house at 1124 Barrett, which was among 13 purchased by faculty and staff under a plan to revitalize the neighborhood. After the school employee moved, the college assumed ownership of the house and decided to donate it to the organization that helps build and renovate affordable housing for low-income families.

President Stephen Ainlay said a group of Union students had gone to New Orleans to help with efforts to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina. They then began looking for another endeavor. The process was about a year and a half in the making. 

 “It all came together,” he said at a kickoff event on Wednesday.

Ainlay said he hopes that Union College can recruit additional students and staff so they can speed up the completion of the renovation. He hoped that the college would continue to be involved, even though it would not likely donate any more houses. He is excited about the potential for partnerships with the Habitat organization.

“Our hope is we will have a thriving [college] chapter in the years ahead,” he said.

College chapters of Habitat for Humanity are fairly common, with units including RPI, Skidmore College and The College of Saint Rose.

Chip Miller, a junior at Union College, said he was involved with Habitat for Humanity in high school and wanted to continue his association. However, there was nothing at Union College.

Miller serves as the philanthropy chairman for the Psi Epsilon fraternity and they got involved last winter with a project to empty out a warehouse that Habitat now uses. About a dozen students are involved in this effort.

“The best thing I enjoy is the fact that you see results day by day,” he said. “You really are doing a lot of work and you know that some family is going to be living in here. It’s going to be a great experience.”

Habitat for Humanity of Schenectady County Executive Director Jeffrey Clark said the house needs substantial work. It was originally built in 1910.

The college replaced the roof and had asbestos in the linoleum floor removed before turning it over to Habitat.

“Union College has just been terrific,” he said.

One section of the exterior walls will require extensive carpentry work. Volunteers have mostly gutted the inside of the twostory, 2,200-square-foot house but left the walls intact. They plan three bedrooms with a large unfinished area on the second floor. Also, they plan to put two bathrooms in the house — one on each floor — and plan to make them handicap-accessible.

The timetable is to have the house completed by the end of May. “With the help that Union College has pledged, we’re hoping that we can do better than that,” Clark said.

Clark said his organization’s board has been trying to step up its production and rehabilitation of houses. “We set a goal of doing 25 houses in five years.”

Chuck Steiner, president of the Chamber of Schenectady County, praised the partnership. “You’re talking about two wonderful institutions coming together to benefit us as a community,” he said. Volunteers such as Charlie Snyder of Mariaville will be working on the house each Wednesday and Saturday. Snyder retired from a state job in June and did not know anything about carpentry or construction.

“I love working with these people and doing something good for the community,” he said. “Now I can hammer a nail.” Working conditions can be difficult. “There’s a lot of dust and particles fl ying through the air. It gets in your eyes,” said Jeremy Burstyn, a Union College junior from Larchmont. However, there are some perks — like when he gets to knock down walls. “It’s fun to break stuff,” he said.

Posted on Nov 1, 2007

Union College recently transferred ownership of a house to Habitat for Humanity of Schenectady County that the entire campus community will help to refurbish.

Local Habitat officials believe this is the first time that a college in the Capital Region has provided the property and the labor to Habitat.

The two-family home is at 1124 Barrett Street.

To read about the project in the Times Union, click here (registration may be required).

Posted on Nov 1, 2007

The Union College Chemistry Club engaged in a number of activities last week for National Chemistry Week, whose theme was “The Many Faces of Chemistry.”

In an event hosted by the Eastern New York section of the American Chemical Society, club members conducted a day-long outreach at the New York State Museum in Albany. Using fluorescent face paints and luminescent glow sticks, they set up a dark room where students could explore the fluorescent properties of the face paints. More than 400 children and their families participated.

On campus Tuesday, Oct. 23, club members celebrated with a demonstration outside Reamer Campus Center. They chose 10/23 because it was also “Mole Day,” so named because one mole (Avogadro’s number) equals 6.02 x 10^23, and they conducted a combustion reaction that causes fireballs to emanate from the mouth of jack ’o lanterns. Students, faculty and staff learned about the chemical reaction creating the fireball, and a group of visiting high school students from New York City (in the Bridge to Medicine program) joined in.

Chemistry Club members also visited Lincoln Elementary School in Schenectady as part of a hands-on, day-long outreach (featured in last week’s Chronicle) organized by Priscilla Scaife, widow of the late Prof. Charles Scaife. Another contingent of students participated in Science Night at Lincoln, which featured workshops for students and their families.

This marked the 20th year for National Chemistry Week, an initiative of the American Chemical Society.

Posted on Nov 1, 2007

Pacifists Kathy Kelly and David Smith-Ferri will discuss “Battlefield Without Borders: Iraqis in Crisis,” Friday, Nov. 2, 12:55-2:30 p.m. in Humanities 019.

The event is sponsored by the departments of Anthropology, History, Modern Languages, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies.

“We are fortunate to have these long-time peace activists visiting Union. They will report about their visit with Iraqi refugees in Jordan,” said Economics Professor Eshi Motahar. “The U.S. attack on Iraq has created a humanitarian catastrophe in the region. In addition to hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead, over 4 million have become refugees.”

Kelly, a teacher and co-founder of the Chicago-based Voices for Creative Non-Violence, formerly Voices in the Wilderness, will talk about the consequences of the war for Iraqis, Americans and the planet.

Smith-Ferri will read from his books of poetry, “Battlefield Without Borders” (Haley’s Publishing, 2007). He visited Iraq for the first time in July 1999 as part of an eight-member fact-finding delegation organized by Kelly’s group. His book includes poems he wrote while in Iraq. For more information, go to: www.battlefieldwithoutborders.org