Women Build Campaign begins with first wall raising

Habitat for Humanity’s 2023 Women Build Campaign kicks off on Saturday.

A volunteer crew will build a new habitat house alongside the future owner, a single mother of two. The volunteer crew is made up of mostly women.

Volunteers are out working hard to finish the first stages of a brand-new home.

It starts from the ground up and it takes a village.

Saturday’s wall-raising event is the start of this year’s Women Build Campaign, which is in its 13th year.

It’s a national initiative engaging women in the effort to provide safe, decent and affordable homes for local families.

“Seeing so many families achieve their dream of homeownership. So it honestly never gets old, being able to see families just come through the doors, and something we like to say is they come through habitats doors, so that one day we can eventually go through there, so and so it’s a really, really special organization, but women build is especially a really special program,” said Cece Shepp, director of communications for Habitat for Humanity.

Something unique about Habitat homes is that the homeowner will be involved in the building process, putting in at least 300 hours of what they call sweat equity.

“It wasn’t easy in the beginning,” said Sarah, the future homeowner. “I feel amazing.”

The house is expected to take around five to six months to be completed.