InterVarsity alumni - Janet Stephens, St. Louis

The SARS outbreak changed Janet Stephens’ plans for the summer of 2003. Instead of going to Hohot China on a Global Project, the Washington University architecture undergrad stayed home to work on an Urban Project in the inner city of St. Louis.

Janet helped fix homes with a team of workers from New City Fellowship. With paintbrush and hammer, she confronted low income housing problems. “I learned how to roof a porch,” she said.

She discovered Beyond Housing, a St. Louis organization that builds houses for people and helps them find jobs.

The SARS outbreak changed Janet Stephens’ plans for the summer of 2003. Instead of going to Hohot China on a Global Project, the Washington University architecture undergrad stayed home to work on an Urban Project in the inner city of St. Louis.

Janet helped fix homes with a team of workers from New City Fellowship. With paintbrush and hammer, she confronted low income housing problems. “I learned how to roof a porch,” she said.

She discovered Beyond Housing, a St. Louis organization that builds houses for people and helps them find jobs. And when she returned to campus she heard that Beyond Housing was holding a design competition for low income housing. Many students who could’ve entered realized they’d have to give up a whole Saturday to participate. Janet realized this was a chance to put her training and experience to work for God.

“I knew that what they did was really good,” she said. She wanted to give it her best effort. And it paid off. Her team’s innovative design won the contest.

Now, as a campus intern raising support to go on staff with InterVarsity’s International Student Ministries, she occasionally drives by the empty lot, designated for her house. “I’d like to see it being built,” she says.