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Inauguration Build 2024

In partnership with Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County

By University of Notre Dame

September 25^th, 2024

“Together, we build better lives.”

In honor of the Inauguration of Notre Dame’s 18th president, Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., the University partnered with Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County on an ambitious community service project: Inauguration Build 2024.

From Monday, September 16, through Friday, September 20, nearly 750 University faculty and staff volunteers helped Habitat construct five affordable homes for local families. The homes were built along Harrison Avenue in South Bend’s Near Northwest Neighborhood and will be ready for move-in as early as December 2024 for some homeowners.

Notre Dame students wrote well wishes on the studs of a future home.

Volunteers lift the frame of a house. The frame was built on campus and transported to the build site on South Bend’s Near Northwest Side.

JP Abercrumbie, executive associate athletics director of culture and engagement, takes a quick break to wave at the camera during the wall build on campus.

Colleagues from a Notre Dame Human Resources team smile alongside several construction team captains.

Volunteers help construct walls that will be used on the build site at Harrison Avenue in South Bend.

Volunteers end the first day of Inauguration Build 2024 on campus on September 16, 2024.

A volunteer helps with the wall build on campus. Once constructed, the walls are transported to the build site in South Bend.

Pete Bevacqua, Notre Dame’s vice president and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics, works on the wall build on campus.

Special gold Inauguration Build 2024 helmets keep volunteers safe.

Father Dowd kicks off the welcome ceremony at the build site with words of encouragement and a prayer for the future homeowners.

All five homes on Harrison Avenue were designed by students from the Notre Dame School of Architecture.

Father Dowd volunteers at the Harrison Avenue build site.

Construction volunteers help unload the trucks carrying the walls that were built on campus by Notre Dame faculty and staff volunteers.

Missy Little, director of the Office of Budget and Planning at Notre Dame, also serves as the board president for Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County.

Notre Dame faculty and staff volunteers are assigned to work in groups led by site captains, each of whom have years of construction experience.

A look inside one of the homes constructed on Harrison Avenue during Inauguration Build 2024.

Future homeowners, including Sherwin Gaston, work on site all week alongside volunteers to earn sweat equity for their future home.

Father Dowd drives a nail at the Habitat for Humanity construction site.

Jim Williams, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of St. Joseph County, shows a rendering of the home being constructed to Shannon Cullinan, Notre Dame’s executive vice president.

Volunteers build detached garages for the houses on Harrison Avenue in South Bend.

Temperatures reach the mid-90s as volunteers work on houses on Harrison Avenue in South Bend. Habitat for Humanity requires extra breaks in high heat for workers to stay safe.

A volunteer is all smiles as she moves plywood with fellow volunteers.

Volunteers learn how to properly install siding on a home with oversight from a site manager with years of experience.

Sawdust flies as volunteers work on a house on Harrison Avenue in South Bend.

Volunteers stand on ladders to help frame out the roof of the garage on a home on Harrison Avenue.

A volunteer preps a house for siding along Harrison Avenue in South Bend.

Volunteers work on a roof of a house on Harrison Avenue in South Bend.

Volunteers gather for a group photo with Father Dowd following the closing ceremony on Friday, September 20.

Father Dowd smiles with Habitat for Humanity volunteers during the closing ceremony.

Father Dowd offers a blessing over the volunteers and site of a Habitat for Humanity project on Harrison Avenue in South Bend.

Footnotes

Photos by Matt Cashore and Peter Ringenberg

FootNotes

Photos by Matt Cashore and Peter Ringenberg

© 2026 University of Notre Dame

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