Women Build 2010 Week 9

One of the most rewarding parts of being involved with the Habitat for Humanity Women Build program is witnessing a volunteer “catch the Habitat bug”! Five years ago Jane Bolton signed up to volunteer with other individual volunteers. She loved learning about construction and meeting women who shared her passion for helping others. She continued to return year after year. Her Habitat journey led to two years of construction-related education and two terms of services as an AmeriCorps member for Habitat. Now, she arrives to site each morning excited to teach the volunteers and guide the homebuyers through the construction steps. When you speak with Jane about Habitat, it’s obvious that she cares very much about the organization and everyone involved in it.

Last Monday, Jane shared her passion with friends and family by signing up as a Team Leader. She recruited friends and family to participate, many of them new to Habitat. Jane and her group of friends had recently lost Steve Scwartz, a wonderful friend, husband and father, to cancer last December and wanted to do something special to honor his life. The Women Build venue turned out to be the perfect fit. His wife, Dana their two children worked at the site as well. The group accomplished a lot and Dana was happy that everyone came. She and her kids realized that Steve had touched so many lives. He was in the construction field and worked in management up until two weeks before he passed away. The group said they would love to have an annual ‘Steve Day’. Team Leader Jane Bolton and Steve’s Fans have definitely “caught the bug”!

This week the windows were all installed, most of the sheetrock has been hung and the garage walls and plywood sheathing are finished. For two months the build crews screwed sheets of plywood over the windows at the end of the day. Now that the plywood is gone, 3547 Emerson truly looks like a home!

Thank you to our Team Leaders, Jane Bolton, Julie Hughes and to each individual who volunteered. Your contribution is appreciated so much! You never know where your one day of volunteering may lead. If you find that you have “caught the bug”, you may want to share your excitement with your friends and family. Maybe the position of Team Leader fits into your future?!

Lunch Providers this week rock! Thank you so much for setting up your glorious spreads – Jane Bolton, Sharon Rolenc & Troop # 13040, Patti King of the Golden Valley Byerly's and Seema Maddali who provided lunch for two days last week.
See photos of the build on Flickr, Facebook or visit the Women Build website to follow along with the progress! As you go through the photos and recognize photos of yourself, friends, coworkers, or family please feel free to jot down any names that you can in comment space.

Also, we would love to have everyone share any photos that you may have taken on site. You can download photos on the Flickr website. All you need to do is open a yahoo account and add your photos to the Twin Cities Habitat Women Build group.

Keep smiling :)
Robin O’Brien 2010 Women Build Committee Member Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity