When University Human Resources sent its employees an email in February offering the opportunity to work on Habitat for Humanity houses under construction, Morgan Cheek signed up. 

The email encouraged employees to use their community service leave to participate. NC State provides eligible employees 24 hours of paid community service leave annually. Cheek, who has worked at NC State for five years, said the Habitat project was the perfect opportunity for her because she had never used any community service hours and had set a goal to use all 24 hours this year.

Fourteen UHR employees worked at Habitat homes under construction in the Dedication Drive area in Raleigh. One group worked March 27, and a second group worked March 28. Other volunteers joined them, and the participants did everything from building shelves to putting in foam sealer.

“I was really happy that I was able to help and be a part of a project that will have a big impact on people’s lives,” said volunteer Meena Raghavan, a recruiter on the Talent Acquisition team in UHR.

Tricia Graham and Kelly Vance, who are UHR Seed Team members, organized the volunteer opportunity through Habitat for Humanity of Wake County. UHR has seed teams for engagement and team building, professional development, and recognition.

Graham said she and Vance organized the opportunity for two reasons: to give their colleagues a chance to participate in a team-building activity and encourage them to give back to the local community. 

Raghavan said one of the reasons she participated in the project was to interact with co-workers not on her team. She said it was a treat to see Angela Nicholson, who works at the Onboarding Center, work in a crawl space and watch Cheeks climb a ladder to put insulation in a ceiling. 

“It was really nice to see the other side of people and how seriously they take and are committed to volunteering,” Raghavan said. “For me, they’re all like superheroes.”

Cheek said the volunteer opportunity was a wonderful experience.

“I never saw myself on a ladder hanging insulation or doing anything like that, but now I have so much respect for people who do that every day,” Cheek said. “It is not easy doing construction work. It gave me a good perspective on some of the challenges other people in different industries face.”

Cheek, who works on the Human Resources Information Management and Analytics team, said she also enjoyed working with colleagues she doesn’t get to work with on office-related projects. While working at a Habitat house, Cheek teamed with Jill Blitstein, who manages the International Employment team, and Julia Brent, an International Employment specialist.

“We very quickly jelled and figured out how to work with each other,” Cheek said. “That was something the three of us would not normally ever have the opportunity to do. I was like, ‘I hope I get to work with both of you in the future because it went so smoothly.'”

Graham said she hopes she and her colleagues can participate in another project next year. She noted how wonderful it is that NC State provides paid community service hours so employees can give back to their communities or the NC State community. 

“I’ve worked in a lot of industries, and this is the first time I’ve ever been given this kind of opportunity,” said Graham, an onboarding specialist at NC State. “If we did something like this in other places where I’ve worked, we would have to use our vacation time or find a workaround. Being given those hours so that you can work in and serve the community is a pretty cool thing.”