The Associated General Contractors Student Chapter at California Baptist University partners with HomeAid, a nonprofit organization, to help fund homeless services in Riverside.
HomeAid Inland Empire is the nonprofit wing of the Building Industry Association and includes the Riverside County chapter. The organization currently works with 13 different homeless shelter service providers to walk alongside homeless people as they learn marketable skills and transition back into society. It refurbishes and builds quality homeless shelters for the temporarily homeless.
Dominic Nelson, junior construction management major and president of the chapter, said the chapter builds doghouses to auction off at sales. The proceeds of the auction are used to help the homeless get back on their feet in Riverside.
The CBU student chapter is composed mostly of construction management majors and typically take on at least one project per year. The projects have previously been elaborate doghouses.
Dr. Diedrich Prigge, faculty adviser for the student chapter and assistant professor of construction management, said some of the doghouses have sold for thousands of dollars.
A past project consisted of a doghouse big enough to fit three full-grown adults. Nelson said the project took nearly two months to finish.
“It was large enough for two Great Danes,” Nelson said.
The supplies for the projects are donated to the student chapter and the students build the projects at Adams Business Park, the off-campus location of the construction management workshop.
Prigge said students volunteer their time, energy and resources to help give back to community. The money raised goes to services offering community development and homeless shelters.
The student chapter is not restricted to construction management majors but is open to all interested students.
Prigge said a long-term goal of the student chapter is more collaboration with architecture and civil engineering clubs. They have partnered with the American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter at CBU and plan on more partnerships .
“Our industries overlap so much so it makes sense that our clubs should overlap as well,” Prigge said.
The Inland Empire chapters alone have raised more than $21,800 to support the homeless in the Inland Empire area.
