Ask anyone who has been involved with the Twin Cities Habitat Women Build and they will share with you a meaningful experience, i.e. learning to use a circular saw, driving through a new section of town to the site, assisting a site supervisor with a problem, laughing with the new homebuyer or sharing personal family news with another volunteer. These are just a few of the experiences that have changed our lives forever. The meaning is there with each encounter and is different for each person - we must each open our eyes, ears and hearts to find it!
So few days, so much progress! The new home on Deppe Street has a bathtub! So far there has been only half a day of rain during the build. This is good news for Worki and her family. Worki was on site on Friday to put in some of the Sweat Equity hours that are required of each homebuyer. She was very excited to see all the progress that had been made on her home in only two weeks and when asked where she would like her photo taken she said, “My new living room!” She gave the other volunteers tours of her home and giggled with delight at every turn. When asked to describe in a few words how she felt about the progress made so far, she said ”I am happy!” She had a huge smile on her face the entire day and it appeared to be contagious. Hopefully every Deppe Street volunteer will have the privilege of catching her smiling bug.
Huge thanks go out to our Week 2 Team Leaders: Kate Loe and the Andersen Corporation. The Andersen team worked tirelessly through the rain and mud on Wednesday to close in the home. On Thursday they installed the windows donated by the Andersen Corporation which will keep future volunteers and the family dry and out of the rain. How does that saying go? “Neither rain nor sleet, nor mud can stop a dedicated Women Build crew!”
The wonderful lunches for the week were provided by Leeann Chin, Becca Kvasnik, and Andersen sponsored two days of lunch from Cecil’s Deli.
If Women Build and writing are two of your passions, we would love to use your skills! Submission(s) of either partial news bits or the entire update are welcome. The writer must volunteer at least one day or spend a few hours on the site interviewing volunteers during the week that you are writing the update. Please notify Heather Erickson if you are interested in assisting with the weekly updates.
A great way to view the progress of the Women Build home is to visit our Flickr photostream or our Facebook page. If you have photos you’d like to share, you can e-mail them to womenbuildphotos@gmail.com or use Streamfile to easily send multiple photos at once.
Experience Women Build this summer and find your meaning! Plenty of volunteer opportunities are still available. Share the Women Build experience with your family and friends.
Live, love, laugh and learn lessons!
Robin
2011 Women Build Committee Member and Crew Leader
My Women Build Lesson Learned this week: Driving through West St. Paul, I realized how small my world has become. On Friday morning I vowed to explore my own ‘Minnesota Backyard’!
matt haugen : 10:22 AM on May 5, 2011
matt haugen