RFH Students "Raise the Roof" with Habitat for Humanity

(RFH) students are raising the roof with Habitat for Humanity.

For the 4th year, a group of RFH students will spend their spring break building homes in downtown Wilmington, Delaware. The 24 students will help Habitat for Humanity with various parts of a home construction project.

Tara Bufis, the trip advisor, says she is so happy with all of the dedicated students at RFH.

“I’m continuously impressed that each year more and more students apply to give up their spring break to help others,“ she said.

Raise the Roof participants will be away from April 2-6 and the students can expect to be tired and satisfied with their labors.

After a long day of hard physical work, the students will return to their sleeping quarters and convene to reflect on the day’s experience. They will discuss what they’ve learned, what they’ve experienced, and what they found challenging.

Bufis says that the trip is not an easy one and the students who attend truly do it for the right reasons.

“No one sleeps on a floor, showers at the Y, walks everywhere and gives up their spring break with friends to impress a college... there are easier ways to do that,” explained Bufis. “Rather, doing this program has to come from a deeper place and that is what I have seen in all the students who participate."

The students have been meeting several times a month with Bufis and trip chaperones Chris Lanzalotto (Vice Principal), Linda Nill (School Nurse), and Andrew Hudson (Science Teacher). They use this time to both to get to know one another and to deal with the logistics of the trip, a major one being financing.

There is much fundraising to be done to finance the group’s participation. There are costs to cover building materials and tools, as well as the food for the student group while they are in Delaware.

To date the group has received fiscal support from a grant funded by the RFH Education Foundation. Those monies are earmarked for bus transportation to and from Delaware. Additional support will be achieved through bake sales, the “Brick Sale”, and pledges made to individual participants (or the whole group).

The Brick Sale is a school-wide effort to raise money through selling a paper “brick” with a name on it for a $1. The bricks, representing all supporters, will be displayed in the school prior to the group’s trip.

If you wish to know more about the trip or how you can help, contact Tara Bufis at tbufis@rfhrhs.org or 732-842-1597 ext. 237.

If you wish to donate to the effort, checks can be made out to RFHRHS and mailed to: Raise the Roof, c/o Tara Bufis 74 Ridge Road Rumson, NJ 07760.