Women Build 2011 Columbia Heights home week 1

Did you know? In 2008 Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity established a Women Build Regular Crew that volunteers on the first Friday and third Thursday of each month during the winter at various sites. Each day, they work diligently and teach one another home building skills. Some of the fun of the Women Build experience for many of the frequent volunteers is running into one another each year at different builds. We have grown in numbers over the years and with that growth, find that our circle of friends has grown as well. The quality of our relationships continues to grow stronger and with each build, the construction skill level of the women has increased. You can sense the confidence growing in each and every volunteer and much of this growth is due to the support of their fellow volunteers. If you would like to join the crew this winter, e-mail womenbuild@tchabitat.org.

Last week we started our second Women Build home of 2011! The ‘prep work’ was completed prior to Labor Day week. The site opens on September 12^th through October 12^th, Monday through Friday. October 15^th through November 15^th the days will be shifted Tuesday through Saturday. We would like to challenge each of you to extend an invitation to a friend or family member to volunteer one of the days this fall. Bring your mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, aunt, best friend, teacher, student, any woman that has touched your life.

It was a fun and very productive Week #1. Trusses were set, basement rock leveled, flooring installed and walls erected. It was a beautiful week with lots of laughter. Many of us made new friends and also ran into old friends and shared stories from past builds. On Tuesday we were thrilled to have the entire Aweis & Ali family pay us a visit during lunch hour. The children were so excited to see the house taking shape. Mohammad worked with the Wednesday crew and even grabbed a Women Build t-shirt at the end of the day for his wife!

Huge thanks go out to our Week #1 Team Leaders who also provided lunch for their day: Sarah Polovitz with API Group - Women in Construction, Stephannie Keller with Level Best, and Gwen Leifeld with Valspar. Felicia Horan and Cecil’s Deli also provided lunches that were enjoyed by everyone.

A great way to view the progress of Women Build homes (past and present) is to visit our Flickr photo stream or our Facebook page. If you ‘Friend Us’ on Facebook you will receive the latest and greatest information and updates and will also have the ability to tag yourself in photos. Also, if you have photos that you would like to have posted to the Twin Cities Habitat website and/or the Twin Cities Women Build website please e-mail them to womenbuildphotos@gmail.com or use Streamfile to easily send multiple photos at once.

Please sign up for another day at the Columbia Heights Build - you’ll be surprised who you may bump into!

Robin O’Brien
2011 Women Build Committee Member and Crew Leader