Women Build 2010 kicks off with demolition project

The first thing that struck me as I walked up to our Women Build house on the morning of June 7th was the dappled sunlight filtering through the lovely old tree in front of a very dilapidated home exterior. Women with tool belts and hard hats were gathering in the front yard. This home was in foreclosure when it was purchased by TCHFH. This house is the first home rehab project, rather than new home construction, undertaken by TCHFH Women Build. As I walked around the building site I could see that a lot of work had already been done. The windows had been torn out and boarded over and as part of the lead abatement necessary in old houses, all windows casings scraped or primed over to cover any remaining old paint. The full dumpster in front of the house was further evidence of the amount of work the crews needed to do just to get the house ready to rehab.

Susan Haigh, President of TCHFH led the morning’s activities. City Council President Barb Johnson and State Representative Erin Murphy spoke about the importance of providing affordable housing in Twin Cities neighborhoods and the great opportunity provided by this house to keep the original structure but build a new, safe, energy efficient home around the existing structure.

Wells Fargo representative Bonnie Kalen was onsite with the women of Wells Fargo building crew; Susan introduced Donjia McDonald, the homebuyer, and invited her to start the rehab project with sledge hammer in hand. The first old structure to go was the dilapidated porch railing.

Also participating in the kick off was Melissa Grosbier from Lowe’s, one of HFHI national sponsors. She announced that Lowe’s has made a 20 million dollar commitment to HFHI through 2013.

Rehab work requires hardhats, safety glasses and gloves. Equally important is watching where you step and what you hold on to. Terra Lumley, the Sr. Site Supervisor, mentioned the “stairs to nowhere” leading to the basement as a good example of this type of hazard.

Terra gathered the Wells Fargo crew together to discuss the day’s work plan. “There will be many opportunities for those with a “destructive” personality today”. Workers could choose to work with a jack hammer, remove a ceiling, help gently pull off woodwork, or pull out window casings. The supervisor mentioned several times that during the rehab, the home would look “much worse” before it started looking better.

After the Kick Off, the crew set to work…….follow us on Flickr, Facebook or visit our Women Build Website to see the rebirth of the Emerson St. house.

Special thanks go out to our first week of Lunch Providers – Girl Scout Troop #10117, Milda's Café, Create Catering & Consulting, Costco and Felicia Horan.

Sincerely,

Katherine Waters 2010 Women Build Committee Member Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity

P.S. – there are still plenty of opportunities this summer for women to sign up to help. Visit VolunteerHub to get involved.

P.S.S. - Bill Hudson from WCCO did a really nice report about the Kick-off and our 2010 Women Build Project.