Volunteer Coordinator Rita Boyer says they used to hold the clinics and put women to work helping build houses the day before Mother’s Day. But she says in the seven years she’s been organizing the event they’ve gone from one day a year to two Saturdays and four weekdays. During the events they see a total of 75 to 100 women taking part.
We caught up with one of them putting up siding on a new home on Locust Street. Judy Jacobs of St. Joseph says she still works full time, but began volunteering for Habitat for Humanity as something to share with her husband when his health took a turn for the worse.
“It’s a complete different skill set from what I normally do,” Jacobs said. “I enjoy picking up skills that I can use at home, and I can tackle some home-improvement projects now that I wouldn’t have been able to tackle earlier.”
“Today we are putting up siding,” she said. “Some of the other guys on the other side of the house are finishing up the blue board so we can put the siding up. So, we’ve got a couple of different projects going, but I’ve been helping with the siding.”
Paul Davidson has been working as a construction supervisor for Habitat for about seven years, but began volunteering for them in 2006. Davidson is among those who host the clinics to teach the skills needed for the work they will be doing. That can include framing, siding, roofing, installing sheet rock and a lot more. The house they’re constructing on Locust Street should be done in two or three months, weather permitting, then they’ll present the keys to the new owners.
National Women Build Week was May 6-14. It was launched by Lowe’s in 2008 to empower women to advocate for affordable housing and spotlight the homeownership challenges faced by many people. Women are invited to devote at least one day to help families build decent and affordable housing in their local communities. This year, more than 17,000 women including Lowe’s Heroes volunteers from across the country were expected to volunteer at construction sites.
Lowe’s donated $2 million to Habitat’s 2017 National Women Build Week. St. Joseph Habitat for Humanity receives $5,000, which Boyer says is spent on building materials, supplies, tools. Whirlpool donates the major applicances and other donors provide cash and other materials for home construction.