Students construct and deliver house by truck, providing affordable housing for low-income families

We have the power to continually enhance the lives of others. Every endeavor contributes to creating a more compassionate world, and this is a sentiment deeply ingrained in the students at Oakland Schools Technical Campus-Northeast. Speaking of proactive measures, Pedro Rivera and his friends recently constructed a house dedicated to providing affordable housing. Remarkably, they even transported the house using a truck, demonstrating their commitment to delivering tangible solutions.

“All my friends, we all looked at each other like, ‘Wow, this is what we did,'” he told 7 Action News. At this campus, students learn various skills such as carpentry, additions, or electrical work. This house was also part of a project assigned to the students by instructor Aaron Swett. They built a 1,368-square-foot home from scratch and were guided by Swett, as per the Good News Network.

This would be beneficial for the students in two ways. They would understand the field of construction and the value of kindness. It would help with providing low and middle-income housing units to Michigan as it lacks them. In the September of 2022, the state announced that aims to increase houses for low- and middle-income households by 13,500 units.

As for the cost of the materials in building the house, it is $100,000 and will be sold for 170,000. The latter is half of the usual price.  "Just seeing it getting lifted and everything, it was kind of like ‘Wow, this is our accomplishment,'” Rivera said. “It’s going to a good family. Good home, good neighborhood — it’s nice.” Many organizations have made this project possible, as per Swett. They built the home in the school itself on Perry Street and students are working under the guidance of professional tradesmen.

"They usually have an idea of what they want to do. ‘I want to flip houses' or 'I want to be a carpenter' or 'I want to build decks.' And then we get in, we start building the house and they get exposed to careers they never knew existed," he explained.

In another touching story about building homes, after a family was saved from lethal storms in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, a storm chaser is aiding them in starting afresh. Jonny Gabel, a carpenter from the Chicago region who has been chasing storms since 2018, told PEOPLE that keeping in contact with the family following their rescue from the wreckage has been "the most rewarding experience" of his life.

He is now utilizing his platform to assist them in reconstructing their home. The 35-year-old said: "I want to build them a new house. I've been building houses my whole life, and this is my calling. This is how I can make an even bigger difference in this world. They've been saying I'm an angel."

Gabel chose not to film inside the store "out of respect," but his TikTok video of the family's rescue has garnered over 150,000 views. As a result, he was able to get in touch with one of their family members to talk to them about assisting in constructing a new home for them.

He is providing his building services free of charge and seeking an accountant to handle donations. He pointed out that even a small contribution of one dollar from his almost 50,000 followers would make a significant difference in achieving their objective. Gabel revealed that few things have ever mattered to him as much as this project. He has since initiated a GoFundMe campaign to purchase materials for the new home.