[PHOTOSTORY 5: STRUGGLE] Car Troubles

 By: Kyra Dorsey 

A rusted front grille sits outside of a car shop. The shop was where senior mechanical engineering major Eli Gerrells had his car repaired after it unexpectedly broke down.

Gerrells looks down at his dashboard after his car sputters. No lights or signals came on and his car sputtered quite often, so he didn’t think anything of it. 

Hannah Adams, Gerrells’ girlfriend, glances over at the dash after the car sputters again. The car then proceeded to drive perfectly normal for another 5 miles. 

Gerrells puts his hand on his head in worry after his car would no longer accelerates. He was able to briefly put the car in neutral and turned the car onto a nearby road.

Adams gets out of the car while Gerrells tries to figure out what is wrong. He suspected that it was something with his battery terminals because they were rusted and had caused problems in the past.

Gerrells gets out of the car and tries to push the car farther out of traffic. They ended up stopping in what they thought was an alley, but it turned out to be a road that led to an apartment complex. 

Gerrells attempts to push and steer the car on his own. He quickly realized that was not the best idea.

Gerrells tells Adams where to steer the car. After she saw how much he was struggling, she decided to steer while he pushed.

Adams looks back and waits for Gerrells to start pushing the car. They had to keep pausing because of the traffic. 

Gerrells stands near the car after pushing it to a safer spot. It went completely dead shortly after and would not change gears at first. 

Gerrells walks to the gas station. He suspected that maybe he just ran out of gas and that's why the car went completely dead. 

Gerrells uses a jerrycan to pour into his tank. It turned out that the car in fact did not need gas and Gerrells ended up having it towed. 

Gerrells looks anxiously at his computer screen after receiving the estimate from the shop. The car broke down on Friday, so he had to wait until Monday to speak to the mechanic. 

Gerrells sits and waits for his car at the shop. The car ended up needing a new fuel pump. 

An old car sits in the car shop after getting new tires. The shops specialized in older cars, but Gerrells' 2009 model still required a new part that cost extra. 

Gerrells pulls out his debit card to pay. The grand total ended up being $1,213 for the part and repairs.

A road leads to the other cars, including Gerrells, that the shop was working on. A mechanic pulled his car around about 20 minutes after he paid, which made Gerrells late to his class.

Gerrell's car sits at the front of the shop. He was happy to have it back. 

Gerrells walks around his car, inspecting it a little before leaving the shop. “This is the best my car has driven since I first got it,” Gerrells said. 

The invoice and receipt sit on his table in his apartment. “I’m going to be eating ramen noodles for the rest of the semester,” Gerrells said. 

[PHOTOSTORY 5: STRUGGLE] Habitat for Humanity

 By: Vanessa Alcala

The Habitat for Humanity of Bulloch County organization is open to volunteers helping to build homes for those in need throughout the community. Off Henry Road, three houses are under construction for residents.

Aaron Marcinkevich is the construction manager for Habitat for Humanity. He leads a group of volunteers to work on the houses. 

The interior of the houses are packed with construction tools, floor coverings and paint ready for the team to use. The items are supplied through donations and a yearly budget.

Marcinkevich looks through his tool chest, trying to find something to assist one of his volunteers. They are preparing to hang a light fixture in the bathroom.

A volunteer, Cole Langford, begins to configure the wires to hang the lights. These lights are going to hang above the mirror in the bathroom.

On the kitchen countertop, two paint buckets sit with paintbrushes in them. The paint job on the interior of the homes was complete.

Inside the third home, one of the bedrooms is filled with boxes of appliances, waiting to be installed. This is one of the last steps of the process.

Marcinkevich uses a tape measure to mark the spots for the doorknobs on the closet. While he does this, he talks to the volunteers, making sure they understand the calculations he used to find the best spots. 

Brady Ninowski looks through the drill kit, trying to find the right one for the job. He was the one in charge of drilling the holes in the doors. 

Maintaining his focus, Ninowski begins to drill into the closet. There will be a round doorknob on each of the panels.

The light helps Ninowski guide the drill into the panel. To make sure the doorknob is secure, it has to be a very precise movement.

Moving to another panel, Ninowski repeats the drilling motion. While he does this, the other volunteers look for other things that could be worked on.

After Ninowski finishes drilling the holes, Jamin Minyon, another volunteer, begins to screw the first doorknob into place. 

In the backyard of the third house, there is a Habitat for Humanity trailer parked in the grass. This trailer is used for storage.

Ninowski sits in the closet area, watching as Marcinkevich helps put something in place with one of the closet door panels.

After taking a look at the door, Marcinkevich looks for a screw to help with the task. While the volunteers worked, Marcinkevich spoke with them about their lives and helped educate them about the projects.

Ninowski places the electric drills on the ground before moving on to help Minyon screw in the rest of the doorknobs.

Marcinkevich leans in to check the doorknobs after the volunteers placed them. He goes in behind their work to make sure they did the job well.

In between the two houses under construction, there is a completed home with residents who recently moved in. One of the residents uses a wheelchair, so there is a construction crew coming in the coming days to install a ramp for easier access to the driveway.

[PHOTOSTORY 5: STRUGGLE] The Button

 By: Rayne Deese

Liz Corbett, founder of the local non-profit organization, The Button, sits in her office to analyze all that needs to be done. The Button collects and discreetly delivers hygiene items to local schools for families that can't afford them within the community. 

The place where the magic happens. Liz Corbett knew The Button needed a bigger place because of all of the items, so she rents out a part of The Boys and Girls Club in Statesboro to be the head office space. 

The displayed flyer that fully explains what the Button does for the community. This flyer also mentions ways that people can become involved. 

Images that show how The Button first got started. Liz Corbett began collecting items in her home kitchen back in 2022, and then the impact began to grow. 

The disorganized pile of hygiene items still needed to be put into their correct location. Volunteers are always needed so that organization can take place for all of the items collected. 

The shelves continue to get loaded up with donated items. Items that get collected range from toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, deodorant, and women's feminine products. 

Soap tends to be the most requested item from individuals. There is always more than 100 soaps in the inventory at a time. 

Detergent is a priority item that gets requested often. With in-hand money donations, Liz Corbett will go and buy these types of priority items to keep in inventory for those that need them.

The line of shampoo that is in inventory. Each bag has one shampoo bottle per hygiene bag.

The stocked toothpaste that has been collected over the semester. There is over 1,000 toothpaste collected. 

Liz Corbett plants spiritual encouragement around the office. "I want the volunteers and myself to remember what this is all for," Corbett said. 

Once the bags are packed, they will be put transferred into colorful string bags. The Button has stickers that they identify the business with, which is displayed on every bag. 

Director of PR for The Button, Tyler Martin, takes a glance at all of the collected items in inventory. "It took a while to count and organize all of this," Tyler said. 

The list of things to be done for volunteers on service days. When volunteers come, they will know what items to pack in which bags. 

Tyler points at a picture from one of her favorite service events that they had for The Button. They frequently host events where local foster care patients and volunteers can come and help out for service hours. 

The empty shelves that will soon be filled. These shelves stay empty until all the bags are ready for send out to schools. 

Tyler and Liz start filling the shelves up with the ready-to-go summer bags. They use Walmart grocery carts to transfer the bags from one room to the other. 

The ready-to-go summer bags. Each of these bags were all requested by students from local schools. 

The empty donations box proves that items are always needed! Each week, the number of people in need of items increases, meaning donated items are always in need.

Once all bags are packed, The Button delivers the items to the schools who requested them. All the students that receive their ordered bag will then have hygiene items to last them for at least one month.