Amanda McBirnie recalls her first encounter with Habitat. As a child, she saw a Habitat event featured on television and thought, “I want to be a part of that.”

“It was the look on the faces of the people who were getting the homes,” she said. “It was the smiles on their faces, the light in their eyes.”

She told her mother, “I want to help people look like that everyday.”

Currently, she’s doing just that. Amanda is in Tucson for the summer as an intern with Habitat. She does a little bit of everything and is often asked to handle a wide variety of tasks. Typically when someone asks if she can do something, she’ll reply, “OK, I’ll try.” She adds, “Normally I can, with a little bit of direction.”

Amanda comes from a small town in Iowa with a population hovering around 1,200. In New Sharon, “Everyone knows everything about everybody.”

Chances are, if you were to ask anyone from New Sharon if they knew Amanda McBirnie they’d say, “Oh yeah, she graduated with my son.” or “She’s best friends with my daughter.”

Amanda chose Tucson as the location for her internship primarily because her grandparents are residents. She was expecting the city of Tucson to be big and difficult to navigate from place to place. However, it has been more welcoming than she expected.
“It’s actually pretty easy to get around… with my grandfather’s help, of course.” She smiled, “He pretty much knows every street in this area.”

In the fall, Amanda will be attending Iowa State University to study interior design. Growing up, she would often rearrange her room and loved to help pick out furniture for the household. She didn’t consider studying interior design until her sophomore year of high school when she was inspired by her teacher, Mrs. Winegardner.

Mrs. Winegardner introduced Amanda to a computer program that allowed her to design a living room. Almost immediately, she was hooked. Her teacher took her on a college visit to Iowa State and Amanda felt at home the moment she stepped onto the campus grounds. It is the same university that two of her grandparents had attended.

Mrs. Winegardner told her, “If you really enjoy interior design, go for it.”

Amanda enjoys cooking, and loves kitchens. She likes the design of countertops and cabinets.

“Kitchens in general are my favorite part of any building.”     

One of her dreams is to one day design her own house. Another dream of hers is to continue working with Habitat.

With a wide smile, she admits, “I can’t even explain how much I love this organization.”

Interviewed and Written by Volunteer Sierra Russell