Habitat project for Marching Virginians on hold

By: | WSLS
Published: April 03, 2009

A project among a local student organization has been put on hold.

The Marching Virginians at Virginia Tech went full force when they raised about $40,000 for Habitat for Humanity of the New River Valley.

"Those students just got at it and the money just flowed in and went quite quick,” said Terri Fitzwater Palmore, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of the New River Valley.

But now the project with that organization isn’t going as planned as the band members expected to be building sometime during the spring.

"I think it's disappointing to everybody who's leaving and even ones who aren't leaving that we may or may not be able to do this,” said Jason Christensen, a senior band member.

They wanted to build a home in honor of Ryan Clark, a band member who was killed on April 16th. Both McKee and Fitzwater Palmore say the original plan was for the band to build on a plot of land in Radford; however Fitzwater Palmore says the land isn’t ready yet and more money is needed to build a road on the lot.

When asked if land should have been looked into while the Marching Virginians were raising money, Fitzwater Palmore said, “Yes, and we've been doing that."

Dave McKee is the Director of the Marching Virginians and wanted to build in the spring, something they’ve been planning since December.

"The land in Radford wouldn't be ready until August. I expressed that August for marching band isn't a good time to build a house,” he said.

But for Habitat for Humanity, it’s hard to find land.

“I say ‘help.’ I say go and get everyone you know, we're looking for land,” said Fitzwater Palmore.

Another problem last week, "A personality conflict with one of my board members just hit me the wrong way so I quit and cried for 24 hours,” she said.

Now, Terri is back- still as the executive director.

When asked if this hurts her credibility and if she’d be able to do her job, Fitzwater Palmore said, “I don't think it's gonna inhibit me from doing my job."

Now, McKee says, "We're going to try to do a project this spring with Community Housing Partners in which we'll do a build the week after graduation here in Blacksburg."

He added, "The bottom line is we get a family into a home that needs a house."

Fitzwater Palmore said if the board approves it, the money the band raised could be transferred to Community Housing Partners if the band decides to join with them. Of course, all the donors would have to be notified.