HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Habitat for Humanity of Hillsborough County will welcome volunteers back to its builds for the first time in more than a year Saturday during its annual "Women Build."
They will work to construct one of the houses in a 10-home community in Temple Terrace.
“We’ll have a home for the first time and it’s a blessing so I’m very excited,” said Shalonda Granger.
Granger and her three-year-old twin daughters will call it their home.
“It’s gonna bring security and it’s gonna bring stability which is what I want for my daughters. It’s something I didn’t grow up having,” Granger said.
Saturday volunteers will raise the roof onto the structure.
“The majority of the funds that have gone into building this home were raised by the women who are going to be participating in this build,” said Melissa Crowther, the Vice President of resource development for the organization, said.
It’s the first time volunteers will be back on site. For more than a year, the nonprofit has relied on subcontractors due to the pandemic to keep building. Tina Swain, the organization’s CEO, said they’ll have protocols in place to promote safety.
“Now what we’re seeing is a slow down in some of the processes just because we can’t get materials. That’s a big problem. So we have been blessed to get the tresses,” said Tina Swain, the organization’s CEO.
The Women Build will also help spread awareness.
“Affordable housing is an issue everywhere. In Hillsborough County, there are more than 100,000 households that pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing. So that means so many families are making a choice between a roof over their head and taking their kids to the doctor putting food in their bellies and many, many of those homes are headed by single moms. And so this is one way where we can highlight that,” said Swain.
For Granger, it’s empowering.
“Empowering for women and then like I said I have two young daughters so to say our home was built by women and you can build homes, you can do something like this, you can be a positive contribution to your community so it’s really cool,” she said.
She said she wants others to know the opportunity is available. You can learn more about the process and volunteering here.
