NKU Students to Volunteer at Cincinnati Habitat ReStore as part of MLK Day of Service

CINCINNATI — Three hun­dred to 350 stu­dents are expected to par­tic­i­pate in North­ern Ken­tucky University’s first annual Mar­tin Luther King Day of Ser­vice on Jan. 18 from 11:15 a.m. — 5 p.m. Stu­dents will be sup­port­ing seven dif­fer­ent non­profit orga­ni­za­tions across the tri-state, includ­ing Brighton Cen­ter Senior Hous­ing, Cincin­nati Habi­tat for Human­ity, Devou Boys Home, Avon­dale Pride Cen­ter, the National Under­ground Rail­road Free­dom Cen­ter, Lake­side Senior Cen­ter and Brighton Cen­ter Tax Preparation.

For Cincin­nati Habi­tat, indi­vid­ual stu­dents and mem­bers of cam­pus orga­ni­za­tions will vol­un­teer their time pre-framing walls for a house that will be built this spring. The work will take place at Habitat’s new ReStore, located off of the Nor­wood Lat­eral at 4910 Para Drive in Bond Hill. In addi­tion to being a retail out­let that will accept new and used donated goods for resale to the pub­lic, the new facil­ity also pro­vides ware­house space so work can go on dur­ing the win­ter months, which will expe­dite con­struc­tion of Habitat’s homes.

The ReStore’s retail oper­a­tion is set to open in the spring, and funds gen­er­ated from the ReStore will go to sup­port Cincin­nati Habitat’s local home-building efforts.

“In the com­mem­o­ra­tion of the legacy of Dr. King, this is an excit­ing oppor­tu­nity for the NKU com­mu­nity to use this day of ser­vice to greatly influ­ence our region,” said Michael D. Grif­fin, MSW, Office of African Amer­i­can Stu­dent Affairs at NKU. He ref­er­enced Dr. King’s quote: “Every­body can be great… because any­body can serve. You don’t have to have a col­lege degree to serve. You don’t have to make your sub­ject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace.”

For more infor­ma­tion about NKU’s Mar­tin Luther King Day of Ser­vice, con­tact Grif­fin at (859) 572‑5214 or griffinm3@nku.edu.

About Cincin­nati Habi­tat for Humanity

Cincin­nati Habi­tat for Human­ity is a non-profit Chris­t­ian hous­ing min­istry that seeks to elim­i­nate sub­stan­dard hous­ing by build­ing sim­ple, decent, afford­able homes to sell to low-income fam­i­lies in need. Cincin­nati Habi­tat works in equal part­ner­ship with fam­i­lies, vol­un­teers and donors build­ing a sense of com­mu­nity as well as afford­able hous­ing. Our part­ners include cor­po­ra­tions, churches, foun­da­tions, orga­ni­za­tions and indi­vid­ual donors who donate money, labor and mate­ri­als to fund and build our homes. Cincin­nati Habi­tat has built over 170 homes in neigh­bor­hoods that include Avon­dale, Clifton, Colum­bia Tus­cu­lum, Evanston, Har­ri­son, Hyde Park, Lin­coln Heights, Lock­land, Madis­onville, Mt. Auburn, Mt. Wash­ing­ton, North Fair­mount, North­side, Oak­ley, Over-the-Rhine, Price Hill, South Cum­minsville, South Fair­mount, Wal­nut Hills, West­wood and Win­ton Place. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.cincinnati-habitat.org.