Habitat For Humanity’s National Women’s Build Week

Have you heard of National Women’s Build Week? It’s an initiative put on by Habitat for Humanity to, “invite women to help families build strength, stability and independence through housing. The week is meant to spotlight the home ownership challenges faced by women.”

My lovely sister Marcey was putting a Women’s Build team together and asked me to join the Leadership Buffalo team…heck yes!

Becoming involved with this initiative marked my very first time volunteering for a Habitat for Humanity home build! I’ve volunteered for the organization in other ways in the past (Buffalo Restore DIY Contest) but actually helping with a home build was a whole new eye-opening experience.

Our day kicked off with welcome remarks from Habitat Buffalo’s Executive Director, Teresa Bianchi.  She taught us all about the organization and provided additional information on the house we would be building at.  To my surprise, I would be helping at the site of Habitat Buffalo’s 300th build located at 42 Wende Street. Not only was this special because 300 homes for people in need is absolutely amazing but it was also a wonderful surprise because this home will be dedicated in honor of my friends at Valu Home Centers.  In 25 years Valu has raised over $3.5 million to help the deserving organization. I’m so privileged to be able to work and partner with such an incredible company- it makes my heart smile!

After meeting everyone and learning what we would be doing for the day, it was Hammer Time! No, not the great MC, but I’m talkin’ sweat equity hammer time. I was tasked with hammering the support beams into place with nails (above) and let me tell you, it was so much fun!

The entire day was a blast and I was lucky enough to meet new friends from Leadership Buffalo, Habitat for Humanity and Buffalo AmeriCorps.  Take a look at some more pictures of the day:

If you aren’t familiar with Habitat Humanity of Buffalo and want to learn more, visit habitatbuffalo.org and consider how you can make an impact by volunteering your time. Questions? Just ask!

 

#WomenBuildBuffalo #WhyWeBuild #HabitatBuffalo #MakingBuffaloBetter