Audrey Harris has lived at the same address in Tuscaloosa for 53 years, but those years were not kind to her old home. The roof began to cave in, and the doors and windows couldn’t keep the cold out during winter.

“The conditions were pretty much deplorable,” Harris said. “It was beyond livable. My floors were falling in.”

Harris tried unsuccessfully to find ways to improve her house over the years. But last year, Habitat for Humanity and the Culverhouse School of Business stepped forward to lend Harris a helping hand.

Culverhouse partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build a new home for Harris in the same location as her old house. It was the second project Culverhouse has done with Habitat for Humanity. Last year, they teamed up with Calvary Baptist Church to create the “Get Jackie Home for Christmas” campaign to help build a new home for Jackie Wright.

“It was really refreshing. You’re in a classroom all day, every day, so it was great to go out and work with a nonprofit and get to really work with people,” Jay Arnold, a graduate teaching assistant in the school of business, said.

(See also “Students use school breaks for community service“)

The project started in a graduate marketing class called Project Management, taught by Billy Hatmaker. Students were given a list of clients to choose from and were expected to apply what they learned in the classroom to plan, promote and complete a project benefiting that client. Students selected their top three client choices and presented them to Hatmaker, who helped them make their final selections.

“We want to make sure that business students leave here not only knowing a lot about their discipline but also know how to serve the community,” Hatmaker said.

The decision to make Habitat for Humanity a class project was influenced partly by the Hatmaker’s previous involvement with Calvary Baptist’s Rehab/Repair ministry, with which he had seen the conditions in which both Audrey and Jackie had been living.

“You could stand in the backyard, stick your arm through a hole in the wall and be touching the inside of her bedroom. That was the extent of the damage,” Hatmaker said.

Harris was ultimately chosen to receive a new home with the help of Habitat for Humanity and the UA students last year.

“I was just overjoyed, overwhelmed, ecstatic,” Harris said. “I just thank God for sending them into my life and helping me.”

Alabama football players including Austin Shepard, Chad Lindsey and Cade Foster were in the Project Management class and involved in both projects.

“I have to tell you that some of these scholarship athletes were some of the hardest workers I have ever had in my class,” Hatmaker said.

The students were expected to do all of the marketing and branding for the project, and the name “Raise the Roof for Audrey” was selected for the 2013 project. Habitat for Humanity chooses not to give homes away for free but instead builds houses that are more energy efficient and sells them at zero percent mortgage interest. After moving into her new house, Audrey was able to reduce her mortgage and utility costs per month by more than $400.

(See also “Habitat continues rebuilding families’ lost homes“)

“We got to see the after-effects for her and her family. She no longer just has a house, she has a home,” Arnold said. When Harris moved into her new three-bedroom, two-bathroom home two weeks ago, the results were everything she hoped for.

“It’s like I’m still dreaming,” Harris said. “It’s beautiful. It’s just magnificent. Everything about it is just so breathtaking. I’ve never had anything this beautiful before.”

Culverhouse students hope to start a new club within the business school that would benefit Habitat for Humanity. The idea would be to create a pool of students that the organization could call and ask for assistance anytime they are doing a project in or around the city. Hatmaker said he hopes it will become an annual project with his students.

“The Tennessee School of Business has already done seven of these projects, and Nick Saban has done 15, so we are not going to let them out perform us,” Hatmaker said.

While the house has been built and Audrey Harris has moved in, the project is not yet fully completed. The graduate students also provide as much financial help as possible with the mortgage for Audrey’s new home. As of now, they have raised nearly $25,000 but hope to raise as much as $50,000. For anyone wishing to donate, the website for the project is raisetheroofforaudrey.com.

“This project served as a reminder of why we do what we do,” Arnold said. “No matter what you do, you have the ability to help someone.”

Even though the work going toward her new home is not quite finished, Harris said working with Habitat for Humanity has been nothing but positive.

“So far, Habitat has really been there with me every step of the way,” Harris said.

(See also “Saban teams up with Habitat for Humanity to create Nick’s Kids“)