Eye on the Triangle

Erie Mitchell 0:00
The views and opinions expressed during Eye on the Triangle do not represent WKNC or NC State student media

Erie Mitchell 0:05
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Ellie Feaga 0:22
Good morning triangle listeners. I'm Ellie Feaga and we have an exciting series coming for you about NCSU is upcoming event Shack-a-Thon. Shack-a-Thon is an annual NC State tradition where student organizations build temporary housing and raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. This year shack avadh will be running from March 24 to 30. If and before then we have two special interviews about how Shack-a-Thon benefits Habitat for Humanity. Please help me in joining Chase Inman from Habitat for Humanity in Wake County. It's nice to have you chase.

Chase Inman 0:22
Thank you. It's nice to be here.

Ellie Feaga 0:34
I have a lot of questions about Shack-a-Thon and how it is benefiting Habitat for Humanity. But first, I've got to start with you. How did you get involved in the program?

Chase Inman 1:16
Out? Well, thank you for for asking. I have been with Habitat for right around three years. And I have been in the nonprofit sector for ever. And I was recruited to come on staff at Habitat wake during COVID to help them do some fundraising and a little bit different way than we usually have done it. And, and I've been there ever since. And I've gotten to rise right race through the ranks rise through the ranks. And I'm really appreciative for that experience.

Ellie Feaga 1:47
Is this what you've always wanted to do.

Chase Inman 1:49
So nonprofits in general have kind of just been my world for so long. I went to school for media and came out and was a journalist for about a year and then went into nonprofit after that and really haven't looked back. I've gone through everything from animal welfare to hospice to now housing, which is an incredible journey for me and considering housing is such a huge issue all across the country. But also, in Wake County, it's really been important for me to be a part of it. Awesome.

Ellie Feaga 2:28
Well love to see the involvement. It's something that is a big problem around here and everyone everywhere. I know very little about Habitat for Humanity. So could you tell me a little bit like what the general mission is?

Chase Inman 2:41
Sure. So we work with individuals to help them build and buy their own homes. We also work on home preservation projects. And we also do a lot of advocacy work. So our major market is really doing those builds. That's what people are really used to with Habitat for Humanity. But a lot of people don't know that we actually do a lot of advocacy work that goes across the entire housing continuum from homelessness all the way to homeownership.

Ellie Feaga 3:11
How does someone in need become a beneficiary? One of the

Chase Inman 3:15
great things about habitat is that it's a really good program for individuals who are maybe lower than the 80% area median income, which is basically just a fancy way of saying they make less than a certain threshold. And they come into our program. A lot of people are word of mouth, we do a little bit of advertising, but they come into habitat. And they actually purchase their homes. A lot of people think that Habitat homes are given away. But we actually go through an entire program. So they do 200 hours of sweat equity with us, which includes building on their home on their neighbor's homes, and they go through financial education courses, and then they purchase their home through habitat and we make it affordable through our financing. Is

Ellie Feaga 4:03
this a government program or an a non non government program? I just don't know. So

Chase Inman 4:09
it's we're considered a nonprofit. So a 501 C three organization and we do get funding from groups like you know, NC State with Shack-a-Thon, we get funding from some, you know, the town in the city do provide funding for us. We're really fortunate in that way. And then a lot of our funding is really through donors.

Ellie Feaga 4:32
NCSU Shack-a-Thon is a is it a competition? I haven't been a part

Chase Inman 4:37
of it before it is. It is a competition. So the really cool thing about Shack-a-Thon is that it is mostly student led. So habitat wake really just comes in and provides support. And what we have is a group of students who are part of the NC State habitat chapter. And then they lead it and then other organizations. So I know there's been some Greek organizations that have come out and they all build their shacks, and then the shack that raises the most money. That's kind of the competition, and then all the proceeds go back to habitat.

Ellie Feaga 5:17
I might have to edit this out if I'm wrong, but I think I think that we're going to be in it this year with WKNC. Which is exciting. But if this is in that means it's confirmation. That is true. If it's out, then I was wrong about that. I think we're in it sounds really cool. So when funds are raised from Shack-a-Thon, what are those funds benefiting at Habitat for Humanity?

Chase Inman 5:38
Well, housing is really a basic need. It's really a basic basic necessity, that everyone deserves an affordable home. So this particular program is going to go back to helping with building on our homes, will actually we'll be able to take the funds from that and build. We currently have a 105 home community that we're working on in southeast Raleigh. And then we have a community and Knightdale, and a community in Clayton as well. So all of this funding is going to go right back into the community helping us build homes.

Ellie Feaga 6:17
Is there any particular anecdote, maybe of one particular family or person that has made an impact on you? Yeah,

Chase Inman 6:24
definitely. every homeowner comes with their own story. And they are just so grateful to be part of the process. And we are grateful to be part of their journey. One of the families that I've worked with, that's been really nice getting to know them, is a mother and her son, and she's a school teacher. And I was there during the, you know, the very beginning stages where she was picking out her home, and then got to watch her build on her home. And then she's actually one of our advocacy ambassadors now. So she's full circle, completely invested in habitat. And she actually did some volunteering before she became a homeowner. So there's just a really great, full circle moment that happened with her and her son, who he was really excited about being in his home because he was going to be able to decorate it and you know, superhuman, super, what is the word I'm looking for hero? Hero. He was super human. He was looking for superhero things to go in his home, which was in his bedroom. And in particular, which was really cute and really exciting for us to be a part of.

Ellie Feaga 7:38
That is exactly actually what I was the story that I was hoping you would tell because I'm curious. I was wondering if some of these people who have benefited from it are coming back to volunteer, which is awesome. And you mentioned to that, if someone's receiving funding for a home, they're helping build it and helping build other homes. So how do those people help out with the organization.

Chase Inman 8:01
So they come through our program, and they're going through the financial education classes, and then they are coming in to volunteer at our re stores. We have we operate 10 re stores across wake Johnston counties. And there are a couple in Durham and Orange County as well. So we have 10 restores that these families are going in helping in and then they are helping us to build communities. So these homeowners are coming through our pipeline. And they are really building a network of community between them and their neighbors, which is a really interesting and fun process for us to be a part of, because we're not just building houses, we're building homes, and we're building communities.

Ellie Feaga 8:48
Well, that is wonderful. It's such a powerful organization, a force that we need in Wayne County, and I'm even now more excited to experience it. And I asked you this if you don't know the answer, that's okay. NCSU Do you know how long Shack-a-Thon has been going on?

Chase Inman 9:04
So the habitat campus chapter was established in 1991. That's a pretty long time for us to be doing these events. And NC State in the hackathon event is not the only way that NC State gives back to habitat. We have volunteers who come out from the from the chapter and build on our other neighborhood homes they come out volunteer and restore. So it's a really great chapter to be a part of and and check it on. It's just one of the many ways to be a part of it. We had a student who came through NC State who actually started the chapter and is still very engaged with Habitat wake which is really quite fascinating that they have have stayed involved for this long and she absolutely loves check Athan and make sure to check in on it every time. that we get together and meet. I love her. She always wants to hear how Shack-a-Thon's doing.

Ellie Feaga 10:04
And she's She's a graduate, I'm guessing.

Chase Inman 10:07
Yeah, she's a graduate of of NC State. That is awesome.

Ellie Feaga 10:11
And I'm hoping that we're gonna get connected with the campus chapter either next week or the following, which is really exciting because we're going to learn what they're doing from their end. But now we get to know what it's all for, which is really inspiring. And I hope that students and community members have been encouraged to play a part in this, if you're not a student, how would someone maybe give back to this program if they're interested.

Chase Inman 10:37
So there are a lot of ways to get back to this program. And we have seen support from non students for a for a long time, which is been really fun for me to be a part of. We have a lot of sponsors who join in and they'll sponsor one of the teams or sponsor their their shack. You can also just come in as a hackathon sponsor. You can also just send a donation that you want to support hackathon. And if you go to ShackAThon.org, it'll take you right to the page where you can donate and show you kind of what each donation amount can help support. And then that will help the students get closer to their goal. So it's, it's definitely important. Housing really does affect everyone. No matter who you are, it's going to especially affect, you know, the students who are coming through college and are going to be the ones looking for homes. So this is a program that I hope everyone can really get behind and understand why affordable housing is so necessary in our community.

Ellie Feaga 11:48
Thank you so much Chase. It was a pleasure to have you thank you for letting us know about this. I hope that maybe even one of our triangle listeners has been encouraged to get involved they haven't before. And thank you so much for what you're doing for our community. Thank you. We're going to come back next week with more on Shack-a-Thon. Thanks for listening. This has been Ellie with Eye on the Triangle

Erie Mitchell 12:23
This has been Eye on the Triangle Erie Mitchell your guest host right now. Thank you so much for listening to this. You can listen to back episodes of Eye on the Triangle at wknc.org/podcasts Under Eye on the Triangle or just any of the other podcasts we have on WKNC. Thank you so much.

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