Our Habitat: Community Building Community, By Matthew Whittle

Spring is a busy season at Habitat. With comfortable temperatures and people ready to be outside, we always have volunteers eager to come help build our next home.

The spring also is when we host one of our favorite events of the year – Women Build.

Originally a way to encourage women to participate in construction and feel comfortable on a job site, Women Build is now more of an opportunity to celebrate women in construction and to give ladies in our community the chance to come out for fun and fellowship with one another while making a difference in the community.

And this year’s event was our biggest ever with more than 130 women volunteering over the course of 10 days in late March and early April. These ladies, coming from across Wayne and Lenoir counties, helped to prep the foundation, build the floor system and build the walls for this new home.

From our point-of-view, there are few other events that capture the spirit of Habitat for Humanity like Women Build. Even though people are often volunteering with at least a few friends, there are only a few other events that can bring together people from all parts of the community – different businesses, different churches, different races and socioeconomic groups, different backgrounds and walks of life – and have them work together toward the common goal of building, homes, community and hope like Women Build. It’s just like our t-shirts said this year, Strong Women Build Strong Communities!

Picture Caption:

Two Women Build volunteers work on the floor system for Habitat for Humanity of Goldsboro-Wayne’s newest home in LaGrange