I know what you are all thinking… “Who were those people in the lobby of the gym on January 26th and what were they doing?” Well, let that question plague you no longer. That was the UVM crew team, and they were Rowing for Humanity – Habitat for Humanity that is.

This is the first year the UVM crew team has participated in this nation-wide event where rowers and members of Habitat row on an ergometer (rowing machine) for twelve straight hours. They collected donations from friends and family, and quite possibly attempted to get them from you. They raised over $10,000 with a portion going to a Vermont chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

If you haven’t lived in a hole for the last 28 years, you can skip this paragraph. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit ecumenical Christian housing ministry. Volunteers build and rehabilitate houses with the help of the new homeowner and donations of money and materials. Habitat has built over 175,000 homes all over the world since it’s inception in 1976. More information on how to help, donate, or volunteer can be found at http://www.habitat.org/.

So, why does the crew team care??? “We get this great opportunity to do something worthwhile with and for the Burlington community, and at the same time show off our team a bit,” said the writer of this article and 4-year member of the crew team. It also helps that the team gets a chunk of the profits.

Row for Humanity began at Kansas State University 9 years ago, and has raised over $150,000. Each participant rows for one physically and mentally challenging hour. If you’ve ever rowed on an ergometer, you know what I’m talking about. This is no easy task. The UVM crew team in conjunction with members of Habitat for Humanity rowed over 800,000 meters.