ABWK and National Women Build Week 2009

To celebrate the 2009 National Women Build Week, TCHFH's Women Build sponsored and recruited volunteers to work on A Brush With Kindness (ABWK) project on May 8 - 9 in Minneapolis. On Thursday, a crew from Dunwoody started out the project, and then individuals came together on Friday and Saturday to continue. Below is a link to the Press Release for the event, and stories about the project from Katherine (WomenBuild Committee Member) and Carolyn (TCHFH AmeriCorps Member)...

Katherine’s Story
By Katherine Waters

As I drive up to the house in South Minneapolis I can see why the little white house needs a little Brush with Kindness. In a pleasant neighborhood with the trees just beginning to leaf out, the house awaited our arrival, its white paint tired and gray and the red trim peeling and dull.

At 9 am Kathy from Lowe’s in St. Paul started the morning off with the Lowe’s cheer. From providing help to the flood victims in NE Minnesota, to donating to Habitat, Lowes is committed to community support. Ayla and Carolyn, AmeriCorps volunteers then talked about Habitat’s work and the Brush with Kindness program.

Now it was time to get to work. We zip up coats and search our cars for an extra jacket on this unexpectedly chilly morning. Volunteers from Dunwoody have been busy scraping, sanding to get the home ready for new paint. They have fixed doors and replaced windows and screens. Fresh 5 gallon cans of paint donated by Valspar are waiting to be poured. The homeowner joined 14 Habitat volunteers as we set up the ladders and started to work. At noon hungry volunteers made quick work of the pizza lunch while admiring the fresh coat of paint brightening the front trim.

Carolyn’s Story
By Carolyn Hejny

Habitat for Humanity’s WomenBuild week had a wonderfully personal aspect to it for me. To see groups of women volunteering their time and effort to help out a homeowner who was not able to do all the work herself, was in itself very inspiring and uplifting for me as a woman serving in a field often dominated by men. However, from that weekend, one day was particularly special for me.

The A Brush With Kindness (ABWK) project we had scheduled was a house in south Minneapolis that was ready for some hard-working women to come in and give it a face-lift. As the registration deadline approached for women to volunteer on the project, we found ourselves shorter on numbers than we were hoping for the Saturday group. When I heard this, I decided to get in touch with my family members and friends to see who I could recruit to help out. After many phone calls and emails I was happy to hear that my mom, sister and three college friends were willing and excited to volunteer. From the minute they started arriving on site, I was smiling ear-to-ear and filled with excitement for the day ahead. I had talked with all of them over the past year about my AmeriCorps service with ABWK and many had asked if there would be opportunities to volunteer with me. I had told them there would be at some point, and now this was the perfect chance! So there I was, standing outside on a beautiful Saturday morning, enthusiastic to spend a day serving another woman with women closest to me.

Part of what was most meaningful for me about the day was getting to share with my family and friends what I have been doing for the past year. They got to see everything from the paint I use to the homeowners I interact with. This year has provided me with so much knowledge about affordable housing and homeownership. I loved getting to share the service I do and the interest I have gained about housing in a hands-on way.

Throughout the day, I would walk around the house seeing how the different parts of the project were coming along, and it lifted my heart to see women I know and love come together through service. They were chatting and laughing all while scraping off peeling paint, climbing up and down 24’ extension ladders, standing on the roof, and getting paint on their hands, faces, hair and clothes. To have them be a part of my daily life and passion for serving my community was fantastic.

As the day came to an end, there were smiles all around at the work that had been accomplished by this wonderful group of women. As volunteers left, my family and friends gave me big hugs and said good-bye, thanking me for this great opportunity. It’s funny because I could not be more grateful to them for all the hard work they did that Saturday and all they do for me in my life. Now when I talk with them about work, they can relate to what I am saying and see how important the work is to the community. I am personally satisfied knowing that after volunteering with Women Build, together as a group of women, we were all a part of something greater than ourselves.