On Saturday, February 23rd, I volunteered with the College of Charleston’s Second Annual Day of Service sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement and the Sustainability Literacy Institute (SLI). The day of service focused on the 2018-2019 QEP focus, “Social Justice and Fair Distribution”, and placed volunteers with various organizations in the Charleston area.

The day started off with a workshop on sustainability and social justice. In the workshop, staff from the SLI educated volunteers on the triple bottom line and urged us to look for connections to the three pillars throughout our volunteer experience. I chose to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity’s Charleston chapter. I and the other volunteers worked on constructing the wall frames for what will someday be a lower-income family’s home.

Habitat for Humanity’s mission hits all three aspects of the triple bottom line. When building homes, Habitat uses repurposed materials to save costs as well as reducing waste. Habitat for Humanity also operates thrift stores called ReStores which are a point of intervention in the linear economy, they are donation-based and staffed by volunteers. These stores sell scrap building materials, furniture, etc that can all be repurposed or reused by buyers. Restores are also a means for potential Habitat homeowners to earn the “sweat equity” needed to pay off their homes.

Sweat equity is a concept that ensures homeowners invest back into their community through service at the ReStore or by helping to build others’ homes. I found this concept very interesting, especially with the theme of fair distribution. Volunteers with Habitat are able to donate their hours to pay for the sweat equity of homeowners who may have other obligations such as working multiple jobs or caring for their families. I would like to see what could happen  with the concept of sweat equity in other areas such as schoolwork. While I know that students can’t do work for each other, there are opportunities that some students miss out on due to work or other excluding factors. It would be interesting to see if there was a way to donate opportunities or time to others who weren’t able to gain the same experiences.