Rebecca Housman Volunteers with Fellow Nursing Students at Habitat for Humanity

2014 Dec 12

Rebecca Housman of Paducah, KY was among more than 25 third semester nursing students at West Kentucky Community and Technical College who recently helped Paducah-McCracken Habitat for Humanity clean up two Paducah buildings.

The first group of WKCTC nursing students spent four hours cleaning, working in the yard and helping make minor repairs to a home at 1401 Madison Street. Angie Wilke, executive director of the Paducah-McCracken County Habitat for Humanity, said a family will receive the home once work is completed. The nursing students were "a delight and pleasure to work with," Wilke said.

In May, a building at 313 Broadway was donated to Habitat. The goal for the future of the building if for Habitat to move its offices into the Broadway building and have a ReStore located inside, Wilke said.

"Due to the fact that the building is a historical piece of our downtown district, Habitat will have a lot of work ahead on repairing and replacing certain items," Wilke said, adding that she was thrilled to get help on the second property by a second group of WKCTC nursing students in late November. "Working on that building was a dusty and physical labor project and every one of the students were all absolutely FANTASTIC!"

Associate Nursing Professor Christy Petitt said work with Habitat was part of the nursing students' community service project. "I am so proud of all the hard work they did," Petitt said, "and the students had a great time."

WKCTC offers several career options in nursing, including certificate, diploma, and degree options in nurse assistant, licensed practical nurse, and registered nurse categories. Spring classes begin at WKCTC on January 12. The campus will be closed for the holiday break from December 22 through January 2.