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“Are we going to be on the cover of Life or Time?” Ron Pfleghaar continued his painting while cracking jokes at the UC/Cincinnati Habitat for Humanity site this month on Haven Street in Avondale. Pfleghaar has been working side-by-side with his stepdaughter Megan O’Malley nearly every weekend since the construction at the site began last September, as have the UC volunteers building Megan’s first home.

During the cold months of winter, the work is mostly underway inside the home, where volunteers spent the day painting on Feb. 4. Several of the volunteers are now crew leaders with UC’s third Habitat home.

We wouldn’t have a roof without him,” said Pfleghaar, pointing his paintbrush at Ryan Cowan of North Canton, Ohio, a second-year electrical engineering technology major in the College of Applied Science. Cowan admits that he enjoys the work and volunteered over 300 hours with the UC/Habitat for Humanity project last year. “I did this all through high school,” he says. “I do this for the fun of it. It’s a great project to work on.”

Third-year aerospace engineering major Dan Cuppoletti was at work painting a closet with April Hull, a Milford High School graduate and a senior UC marketing major. “I’m having a great time,” Dan said. “I used to do this kind of work with my dad (Professor and Faculty Senate Chair John Cuppoletti) all the time.”

April Hull wanted to get her skills in shape for her study-abroad class over spring break. She’s one of 10 College of Business students along with four UC Spanish majors who will travel to Guatemala for the first time to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity from March 17-26. The trip is geared toward helping students develop cross-cultural understanding while volunteering alongside the Guatemalan partner family, explains Lee Armstrong, assistant director for international programs and the UC/Habitat family advocate. Armstrong, who was also on painting patrol at the UC/Habitat home, will accompany students on the trip to Guatemala.

“This is where I’ve done all of my community service hours,” says Cincinnatus Scholar Nichole Leslie, a health science major from Sandusky, Ohio. “It’s fun. I love it.”

Guided by lead site coordinator and

UC alum Kurt Ponting

, a UC senior staff engineer, the project is on schedule for completion in the spring with a dedication ceremony set for May 13. But once Megan is moved in, UC’s work with Cincinnati Habitat for Humanity will continue. The lot that will be the site for UC/Habitat’s fourth construction project is just next door to Megan’s home, and will get underway in the fall.