| Habitat for Humanity volunteers both novice and experienced tell what it's like to raise the roof of Richmond houses. | ||||
KEYWORD: Habitat |
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| About the Women Build house |
Staff reports |
| Feb 28, 2008 |
Donna Finney, a single mother of five and grandmother of one, has worked three jobs to pay the rent on an apartment, reports Bill Lohmann in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Finney’s family crowds into the apartment which is not accessible for her oldest daughter, Te’tia, who was born with cerebral palsy. But their living conditions will change when they move into their new Habitat for Humanity house that will be constructed largely by female volunteers in the Women Build program.
Read more about the new Habitat house, Donne Finney and her family.
We made it through SUNTRUST DAY 1! What a great team…the folks on STD2 have some really big muddy boots to fill. It started off a bit chilly but it sure didn’t take long to warm up…Bill made sure of that! Wall started going up immediately. STDAY1 Team was able to complete ALL outside and inside walls today. PLUS…break down a ton of scaffolding and carry it from four houses to our one…although, I’m not sure we weren’t just given “busy” work! But STD2 Team will be ready to go tommorrow. Everything seemed to go very smoothly. LOTS of terrific weather…in fact, many of us managed to get sunburned. STD1 Team leaves the rest in the very capable hands of STD2 Team and STD3 Team. Good night and good luck!
Your favorite LOGISTICS MANAGER!!
Cindy Mims of Richmond, VA
Mar. 11, 2008 at 05:16 PM
On Thursday, my fellow female co-workers and I headed out to take on the challenge of building a home…little did we know what task was to await us. As we arrived to the Habitat site our eyes scanned the undeveloped subdivision, guessing which house would be our masterpiece. The group was anxious about the day’s activities; wondering if we would be painting, building a wall, or inserting windows. When Bill, our construction supervisor, directed us to the home we would be working on I had to take a second look. It wasn’t a home at all, just a skeleton of a foundation!
After a couple of hours of scooping up mother earth to prepare for the insulation to be attached, my back and arms began to ache. While rubbing my arms I began to ask myself, why did I choose to volunteer for this? I overheard a few volunteers beside me begin to have a conversation about family members and friends who were disabled. The home we were working on is for a family who has a disabled member. My mind raced back to my father’s best friend from college, who is now a disabled quadriplegic. From then on my aches didn’t matter; I was focused on completing the task at hand.
Volunteers come out for various reasons: to get away from the cube, to earn volunteer hours, networking, etc… Working on a Habitat for Humanity home has reminded me how fragile and delicate life is. There will be hardships and unexpected events, but there are those good days too. I can only imagine the “good day” the Finney family will have when they move into their new home.
Kim Moore of Richmond, VA
Mar. 6, 2008 at 05:05 PM
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