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831 House: An International Hangout

By Debbie Williams Reporter

Published: Tue, April 01, 2008 - 5:00 pm

Short URL: http://wkrg.com/a/12272/

Debbie Williams

Companies hiring students from around the world to come to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach to work for the summer will tell you it's something they've needed for a long time. Now they've got it and it's all thanks to a couple who like to eat out, a lot.
Swanky sofas, plasma TVs and laptop computers occupy what once was an insurance office.
"I think it's good it's really really nice," says Sawetamoinkul Kanpaya. She's been in Gulf Shores a week. She'll spend her summer break working at Burger King.
Mike Harding and his wife Cindy had an idea, "My wife doesn't like to cook and so we go out to eat a lot and as we did we met people from all over the world."
They wanted to do something for all those student who had served them. "It's something that's really needed if we could have a rallying place for these students when they come it would mean a lot to them," says Harding.
Students spend most of their summer working in restaurants, retail stores and theme parks, recruited by companies like "Jobs on the Beach". Mark Smith is the regional sales director. "We send job offers out to recruit college kids to come to Gulf Shores and work on their summer break."
Students from all over the world come for the jobs and the beach but it doesn't take long for them to start missing home.
"Yes, homesick," says Kanpaya.
"As we talked to them we thought, when we've been out of the country we like to get on the Internet to talk to people at home, connect with the news and also we like to watch TV from home."
So that's what they did, made all those things available in one place. All for one reason, "If we can help them feel a little better, we've done our job," says Harding.
It's called the "831 House". "831" is the Harding's code for "I Love You," 8 letters, 3 words, one meaning.
To find out more about the "831 House" go to their website at www.831house.com.