Photo by Joe Imel/Daily News Western Kentucky University's Bryan Carrco, a junior architecture major from Springfield, puts up the frame of a wall Saturday during the Centennial Birthday Build at the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity on the south lawn.

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The wooden building frame that's been sitting on Western Kentucky University's campus this week is not the beginning of yet another construction project on campus - at least not one that will stay there.

The frame was built by Western's chapter of Habitat for Humanity, the non-profit organization that builds homes for families who, in the regular housing market, wouldn't be able to afford one. These homes are sold at cost with no interest.

It will be on campus until Thursday, when the Habitat members will take the frame down and bring it to the site on West Main Street where the home will be erected permanently.

Working for Habitat is a volunteer experience that goes beyond envelope stuffing, said Western sophomore Jessica Tinnell of Louisville, the campus group's secretary.

“When you're done with it, you can actually see this produced,” the 19-year-old broadcasting major said.

She was among about a dozen volunteers who raised the frame on Saturday as part of the group's effort to raise the $50,000 cost of the home.

The idea was to show off their work and draw more donations, which the group is trying to collect in $50 increments, said Greg Mills, the group's co-adviser, architecture and manufacturing sciences professor.

For that amount, a sponsor gets a sticker on a space representing a square foot on the floor plan of the 1,000-square-foot home. If all the squares are filled, the house will be paid for.

The group would like to see a bunch of small donations, rather than a few big sponsors, Mills said.

“I would like to see the whole Western community, a big portion of the Western community, all giving a little bit,” Mills said.

Other donations have come in the form of contractors who are donating time and materials to the project.

One such contractor is A&A Plumbing and Electrical, which will install the home's wiring and pipes.

“I guess Bowling Green's been good to us so we're just trying to give a little back to the community,” said Tony Swift, who owns A&A with his father, Anthony Swift.

The Habitat volunteers wore Western-red hard hats as they used double-headed nails to put up the frames amid intermittent drizzle.

This project is the first that Western's chapter has funded and built entirely on its own. They're calling it the “Centennial Birthday Build” in honor of Western's 100th anniversary this year.

In previous years, students in the campus chapter have worked with the Bowling Green-Warren County chapter on homes in the area.

Three students in Western's construction management program are overseeing the work as their senior project, and have to do all the problem solving and planning with the volunteers, Mills said.

Those volunteers put together the house's frame in just a few days, said one of those seniors, Michael Vandiver of Madisonville.

“We had a lot of volunteer help and everything went together real well,” said Vandiver, 24. The two other seniors managing the project are Clint Wheat of Scottsville and Joe Mattingly of Evansville, Ind.

One of the volunteers who came out Saturday was a Western alumnus who worked with Habitat before he graduated in May.

“I feel a very strong connection with Habitat and the good that it does,” said David Martin, who earned a bachelor's degree in industrial science.

The foundation of the house is scheduled to be poured this week, and students will take the frame to the site Thursday, the first day of fall break. A group of volunteers will work on the house during the four-day pause in classes.

A family was recently selected and will soon meet with the students and begin putting in their “sweat equity” - hammering and sawing alongside the volunteers.

Because it depends on volunteers, weather and other factors, it's not clear when the house will be complete, but the volunteers have a goal in mind, Tinnell said.

“We're really hoping Christmas,” she said. “(It would be) a really great Christmas gift for them to have.”