Hundreds renovate homes in West Phila. neighborhood

To kick off the season of rebirth and renewal, Greeks turned out in the masses for rebuilding inner city homes during the first weekend of spring. In conjunction with Greek Weekend, all Greek organizations were encouraged to send their members into West Philadelphia to renovate homes this past Saturday. Penn students participated in the first Christmas in April weekend to begin in March. Bright and early at 9 a.m., over 300 students -- hailing mainly from Greek organizations -- joined teams of skilled laborers to renovate 11 houses and six lots around the West Philadelphia area. "The mission of Christmas in April is to prevent homelessness by joining with the community to rehabilitate low-income housing," said Russell Bjorkman, project president and fourth-year MBA/JD candidate. "We try to work with the homeowners to address the most important issues which are very simple -- a safe, warm and dry home. Within that framework, we then try to help make it look as good as possible." Traditionally, one of the major goals of the project is to involve residents in the renovation process. "Homeowners came out and helped the volunteers because they really wanted to see their neighborhood and houses beautified," said Kate Schottenstein, undergraduate coordinator and a Wharton sophomore. "They really appreciated it." Rebuilding Together/Christmas in April is a national organization with houses all over the country. It has been a part of the Penn community for 12 years, beginning with a small group of Wharton graduate students and evolving into a University- and city-wide enterprise. The Philadelphia program now has a total of 50 houses, with 23 in West Philadelphia and 27 in the surrounding neighborhoods. Coordinators were pleasantly surprised with the weekend's large turnout. "It was quite a task to get Greeks excited to come out, but they all came, and they had a really great time," said Bjorkman. Students aided the skilled workers in all aspects of construction. "We run the house from beginning to end," said Shawn Dick, a house manager and College sophomore. "We organize the skilled labor, volunteers and supplies. We act like the foremen at the house." In one home, the stairs were so wobbly that walking down was -- at best -- an extremely precarious endeavor. "By the end of the day, those stairs were secure," Schottenstein said. "At the same house we also installed locks on the doors, spackled the walls and secured a ceiling that was in danger of falling in." The question remains whether the turnout will be as high in the coming weekends, as Christmas in April continues without the Greek support. "It's one of those things that you don't do a lot of times, unless you are going out with an organization, but after doing it this morning I asked how I could sign up to come for another weekend," said Elizabeth Weiss, a College freshman and Delta Delta Delta pledge.