Dear Editor:
In the last full week of March, a group of 13 college students, and three chaperones, from the University of Wisconsin at River Falls, quietly descended upon Jefferson City and spent the next seven days building critical retaining walls and working on various Habitat homes under construction in our community.
While here, they were met with many acts of kindness in return for their labors. Wesley United Methodist church graciously provided them a place to stay. The Red Cross supplied cots. The YMCA offered them access to their facilities at no cost. The staff at the Capitol gave them an unforgettable tour that they couldn't stop talking about. Many area restaurants provided them with wonderful meals.
In addition, our volunteers, staff and partner families are to be thanked for giving generously of their time and resources to make the week special.
While the national news reports on hard-partying spring breakers getting into trouble, please remember these young adults from Wisconsin. They chose to spend their week off from classes slinging 80-pound blocks, shoveling gravel and helping us build a better Jefferson City. Instead of lounging on a beach, they were sleeping on cots in a local church basement, and working alongside Habitat Partner Families that they did not know, supporting a town in which they do not live.
When the dust settled, the students had left their mark on three Habitat homes, and they were brought to tears at the thought of leaving. It is worth sharing the words of their chaperones, who have led 10 similar trips in the past, to locations scattered across the country: "We have never experienced hospitality like we have had while here in Jefferson City."
And on their behalf, I want to say "thank you" to the many of you whose contributions made their stay a memorable one.
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