Story

This Spring Break, Bradjanaii Butler, a Collegiate Challenge volunteer from Albertus Magnus College, volunteered for Habitat CFC and found herself on a street full of memories.

“Service is selfless, and requires no thought. Community is unified, and filled with pride. Habitat for Humanity embodies these pillars, said Bradjanaii. “I have been adamant about helping individuals in need since I was in high school; taking two trips with my alma mater, Harding High School, to North Carolina to build homes with Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County. Five years later, I now attend Albertus Magnus College and have had the honorable pleasure of serving at Habitat for Humanity of Coastal Fairfield County for my spring break. This week of service was near and dear to me not because I was giving back to my birth city, but to the neighborhood that raised me. Upon entering the warehouse I was unaware of where exactly the projects were taking place. When we were given the address I realized it was where my late Great Aunt Trudy’s house used to stand; it was less than one block away from my childhood home.”

My childhood home that the bank took from us once my Great Grandmother, Dolores F. Peterson, passed away in February of 2012. Pulling up to the site I was flustered with emotions. With only the foundation of the house being done, there was a clear view of my old home at 600 Shelton Street. I did not know how to feel with all the memories, pleasant or not, that were flowing through my mind. I had walked, run and played on these very streets just five years ago; those five years felt like an eternity. There was such a change in the neighborhood it was almost unrecognizable, but for all good reasons. Although the memories made me emotional, with every movement I made on site I thought about the new memories that would be made in this home I worked meticulously to help construct. The laughs that would be shared, the cries that would be comforted, and the newborns that would grow there were what it took to ease my mind. My family had our time on these grounds and now it was time to pay it forward, I was just lucky to be a part of it.”

-Bradjanaii Butler