Charger Women’s Soccer Teams with Habitat for Humanity

OAK ISLAND, NC  – (By Chad Kebrdle). Ancilla students actively live the PHJC mission of helping those in need within the community. The women’s soccer team took this attitude out of state recently, however, and spent a day working with the group, Habitat for Humanity while on a team trip to Oak Island, North Carolina.

According to their website, “Habitat for Humanity partners with people in your community, and all over the world, to help them build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage.”

Justin Crew, the women’s head soccer coach, is no stranger to the not-for-profit organization. “I worked on several Habitat projects as a young man,” he said. “These experiences have stayed with me throughout my life. I am hoping it does the same for the young women on my team.”

Though there were smiles on their faces, the volunteers did not have an easy day.  “The girls were fun to have on our team and worked extremely hard all morning,” said Pete Jansen, Construction Liaison to the Board of Directors. “We were thoroughly impressed with the improvement they made to the home site.”

The finished product often goes deeper than the project. “I took my team on this preseason trip so we could begin the process of moving from a soccer team to a soccer family,” said Crew. “We do these types of service projects to give back to the community. What inevitability happens though in the process is the people serving are often impacted as much as those they are serving.”

Ancilla College is proud of our students and the hard work they do both inside and outside of the classroom. Many groups on campus participate in activities that give back to the community; and by doing so, hope to enrich the lives of the student.  In that way, Crew considers the trip a success. “I believe the trip and working with Habitat for Humanity has done just that.”