On Monday the Chapel Hill Town Council will conduct a public hearing on the Inter-Faith Council's application to build a new Community House at 1315 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., on land to be leased by UNC. This is an exciting opportunity for our town if permission is granted.

The IFC's partnership with the university goes way beyond a ground lease. It provides a new and exciting classroom for our students. Generations of UNC students have enriched their educational experience by volunteering at IFC.

For some students, volunteering at IFC becomes another thread in their broad tapestry of enriching experiences: an opportunity to do community service, a chance to witness the diversity of life's circumstances and help their fellow community members.

For some, volunteering at IFC may be part of, or a complement to, their professional education in social work, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, public health, public administration, city and regional planning, and the legal profession.

By approving the new IFC project, not only will homeless men in our community be better served but so will new generations of college students. The new building and re-designed service program offers both the residents and student volunteers the opportunity to improve their circumstances, enrich their lives, and prepare themselves for work and careers.

The new Community House will make it possible for the IFC to design, run and manage a program that draws from those resources of our hometown university which focus on the study and teaching of best practices in fields critical to the general welfare of communities throughout North Carolina and beyond.

Don Boulton

IFC Board of Directors