Women Build 2012 ABWK project

The home chosen for the Women Build A Brush With Kindness Project this spring is in the Minnehaha neighborhood in Minneapolis. The home is owned by Hazel, a senior citizen who lives alone as do many seniors in the area. Her home is surrounded by beautiful flower gardens, which were being covered by plastic tarps on the day I visited. The tarps are needed because the wooden siding on the house is covered with peeling paint, which the volunteers spent all day scraping off so a fresh new coat can be painted on later in the week.

Hazel had owned a business until health problems a few years ago forced her to retire and live on Social Security Benefits. When she went to a local neighborhood association seeking help with her heating bills they suggested that she might also get some help with the painting from Twin Cities Habitat For Humanity (TCHFH). She thought it would be wonderful if she could just get one person to be at her home in case of problems while she did the job herself. But, on the day I visited she was working along with a crew of Women Build volunteers.

Bekah is one of the Site Supervisors who comes to TCHFH by way of her architectural studies in Nebraska where she developed an interest in low-income housing. She relocated to the Twin Cities area because of the strong Habitat for Humanity affiliate here.

Also helping on site was Sara who usually works as a developmental associate in the affiliate’s office. Her University of Minnesota fieldwork with non-profit agencies led her to TCHFH. Sheryl is a computer scientist who has worked with TCHFH for several years starting with the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project. Cynthia is a nursing student who makes volunteering part of her life. Heidi works in human resources for a company that allows her time off for volunteering. Kari is a journeyman carpenter who has just graduated from Metropolitan State. As a group they enjoy the contacts with other volunteers and contributing to the goals of non-profit organizations.

To complete the project, other days will be filled with individual volunteers and teams from Lowe’s and Valspar. We are still working on sponsoring the project, if you would like to help us reach our goal, please visit our fundraising website.

Lenore Harmon
Women Build Committee Member

P.S. - Save the Date - Our 2012 Summer Women Build home kick-off event will be at 9:00am on Monday, June 11^th. And, we are currently recruiting Team Leaders, Crew Leaders, General Construction Volunteers and Lunch Providers for both the Minneapolis and St. Paul Women Build homes through VolunteerHub. Visit our the Women Build Facebook page to see more photos.