Habitat for Humanity brings together 150 women to build homes in Calgary

This week marks the annual Habitat for Humanity Women Build, a six-day work bee that brings together 150 women who want to help build affordable housing for vulnerable working families.

Women Build is the organization's biggest fundraising event of the year, says Kelsey Murdoch, program specialist for community fundraising at Habitat for Humanity Southern Alberta.

"A lot of our families are single moms, so it's women helping women, and it's just a really great fun, empowering experience," Murdoch said. "As a volunteer, they get to feel like they really contributed to helping people right in our own community who really just need a little hand up."

The Habitat for Humanity program has built more than 200 homes in southern Alberta over the past 27 years. This year, the event also hopes to raise $100,000 toward the cause through sponsorships and fundraising.

"I just think it's a great cause, said Dana Farnell, who started volunteering with Habitat for Humanity seven years ago. "It's extremely important for children to have a home base, not to move, to be in good quality living conditions, to go to the same school, get to know the neighbourhood kids. It's just stability in a child's life."

This year, Women Build is getting started on a complex of 32 affordable homes in the neighbourhood of Silver Springs. As the project is built out — plans include four buildings with eight townhomes in each — qualifying families will be sold the homes with no down payment and no interest charges.

"There are people that are working full time and they have employment, but they just can't quite save enough for a down payment. This gets them into home ownership," Farnell said. "It's amazing to go to a home dedication because the families are ecstatic. They're so excited to move in and make the home their own."

Families who qualify have to get involved — they are asked to commit to 500 hours of work with Habitat for Humanity. Farnell says that can also help them prepare to be able to do some things around their own house after moving in.

Meanwhile, everyone who volunteers also gets the skills training — and a sense of accomplishment from participating.

"It's a safe and welcoming environment to try out the tools, to realize that everybody has the ability to do this with the correct instruction," Farnell said. "When we're building walls, you can see the walls be built, and they will see them stand up, and the house begin to come together.

You really see a difference from the beginning of the day to the end of the day, each day."

Farnell says volunteers are from all walks of life, and no skills are required.

"Absolutely everybody that comes to us, we find something that they're good at and we get them to do it," she said.