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Women Build 2009

Women Build 2009
Maura Donahue, Chair

• DAILY UPDATES

Women Build is designed to create a community of women dedicated to changing society for the better. In the United States alone, more than 12 million children -- one out of every six -- live in poverty. Your support of Women Build gives women the opportunity to address this need.

Don’t worry if you don’t have construction skills. There are several ways for you to be involved and all come with hands-on training.

• Volunteer in house construction or on-site hospitality.
  
• Donate food, materials or services
  
• Sponsor a Women Build volunteer or team
  
• Join W.A.T.C.H., Women Accepting the Challenge of Housing

Are you ready? Get involved with Women Build 2009:

• Step 1. Donate: Complete the donation form,
• Step 2. Volunteer: Register online to volunteer -- as an individual or with a group (Tuesdays-Saturdays, Oct. 2-31).
  (You will need to register, creating a login name and password in order to sign up online.)
  
• Step 3. Waiver: Please print and sign a LIABILITY WAIVER and turn it in at the office or on your work day at the construction site to receive your T-Shirt.
  

Women Build will build and raise funding for two Habitat houses this year.

• Volunteer Info (FAQs)
  
• DAILY UPDATES
  
• Map to worksite
  
• Meet Habitat partners: Cotham Family & Edgerson Family
  
• Women Build 2009 Committee
  
• View PHOTOS: WB Kick Off Party | Site Preparation | W.A.T.C.H.
  
• We thank our Sponsors

View Women Build 2009 in a larger map

Directions: Turn North off Hwy. 36 onto Daisy Street, Right on Progress Street and Left on Jasmine Street.
No parking on Jasmine north of Progress Street. Please do not block mailboxes or driveways; park on one side of street only.

Women Build Partner Families

The Cotham Family
Family Finds Brighter Future After Hurricane

Florence Cotham lived in Kenner with her husband and three sons in 2005 when the dark clouds of Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf of Mexico. Florence held her breath, like everyone else, hoping for the best.

Katrina took Florence’s home and husband: her trailer park was closed down, and her husband said he was taking their trailer to LaPlace, with or without her. “We had some long-time problems,” said Florence. “When he said, ‘If you want to leave, now’s the chance’ … I did.”

Florence moved with her three boys (now ages 15, 18 and 20) to her mother’s property in Folsom. In addition to working and parenting her sons, Florence takes on the added responsibility of caring for her 18-year-old son Shane who is disabled and not allowed to be left alone. A family friend lives with them to help out.

They stayed in a FEMA trailer for three years and then moved into her mother’s old house. “It’s pretty small for all of us, and it needs a good bit of repair, but I couldn’t afford to buy anything that was out there,” Florence says of the staying in the house. Not wanting to rent a home, she found she needed to repair her credit to be eligible to buy a home. “I fixed my credit by paying off my bills, one at a time and then applied to Habitat,” Florence said. “I’m the type of person who likes to work for what I get, so Habitat seemed like a good fit for me.”

She admits Habitat’s program is a lot of work, but says she found it a lot of fun too. “I really liked the financial fitness class. I learned a lot.” Even her oldest son enjoyed volunteering on the construction site.
The silver lining of her dark cloud is easier to see now. “I just want my family to have a stable home; that’s important to me,” she says. “I’m so glad that I found a Habitat. I’ve always wanted to buy a house of my own and now I can.”

Edgerson Family
Prayers answered

Rosalyn Edgerson is a full-time employee, daughter and mother-figure for her niece. She is also a part-time usher at her church. Now, she would like to be a full-time homeowner as well; and, she found a way to do so with Habitat for Humanity St. Tammany West.

Rosalyn has lived in her family’s house with her mother all her life. And her niece has lived with them for all her 12 years as well. Rosalyn is like a mother to her niece and wants to see the two of them grow and bloom in their own space. She knew she did not want to rent. “My goal was always to buy a house for me and my niece,” Rosalyn said. She just wasn’t sure how to go about it.

Through careful thought and prayer, she made the decision early in 2009 to apply with Habitat to buy her own space. Her prayers were answered with a phone call early in 2009. When she found out she was approved, she “started to scream and cry and jump up and down, saying ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’”

Rosalyn works full time for the St. Tammany Parish School Board, and said that putting in her sweat equity hours has been challenging, but well worth the effort. “I’ve learned so much from the financial fitness and homeowners classes already. They even helped me straighten out my credit.”

Rosalyn and her niece are already making plans about how to decorate their new home. She is proud to take on the new responsibility and humble to God’s ways. “I prayed on every decision and step of the process and am so grateful for how God has answered my prayers.”

Committee Members
Maura Donahue, Chair
Michelle Avery
Sue Bell
Susan Bonnett
Barbara Bordelon
Susan Bose
Beth Brantley
Pat Brister
Simone Bruni
Maria Burkhardt
Maureen Clary
Diane Cory
Rachel DeBord
Beth Donahue
Kristal Droddy
Pam Egan
Kelly Elliott
Anne Favret
Tanya Freeman
Joanne Gallinghouse
Dorothy Garcia
Cheryl Garrity
Elly Harper
Jesse Hartley
Lauren Hebert Lee
Pam Keller
Cheryl Klein
Adrienne Laborde
Marlene Laboureur
CJ Ladner
Leigh Ann Lanaux
Lauren Laudun
Nancy Lee
Trilby Lenfant
Yvonne Madere
Heather Mahoney
Erin Maresh
Suzy McDaniel
Silvia Muller
Lori Murphy
Christine Napier
Willie Paretti
Vicki Peck
Jan Robert
Stephanie Schedler
Wendy Schneider
Beverly Spivey
Harriet Stafford
Felicia Stallard
Kristie Thomas
Sandi Thomas
Maurer Van Voorthuysen
Elizabeth Van Sant
Jinx Vidrine
Marilyn Wenzel
Phoebe Whealdon
Catherine Wilbert
Sue Williams
Sandee Williamson
Laura Zammit

Habitat for Humanity St. Tammany West

Women Build 2009 Daily Updates
Share your photos with us: Email | Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Thursday, Oct. 29 Welcome friends, Florida Marine, Professional Women of St. Tammany, and Stirling Properties of Covington to Women Build 2009! And thank you to the Nutrition Company for providing lunch.

Wednesday, Oct. 28 Welcome friends, Florida Marine and Cleco to Women Build 2009! And thank you to Cleco for providing lunch.

Tuesday, Oct. 27 Welcome friends, FARA and Florida Marine to Women Build 2009! Don't the rain scare you away; we have plenty of work to be done indoors and out!

Saturday, Oct. 24 Thanks to our volunteers: local friends, Northshore Democratic Women's Club, and Grace Disciples of Christ Church. And once again, thank you to Lakeview Regional Medical Center for providing lunch.
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Friday, Oct. 23 Welcome volunteers from CapitalOne Bank, Northshore Tourism, msh architects, Ochsner Golden Opportunity and BPW-LA to a great day of building and enjoy lunch from Mr. Gumbo.
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Thursday, Oct. 22 Before the weather drove us out, volunteers from CLECO, DemoDiva, Northshore Community Foundation and Covington City Hall joined us on site. Thank you CLECO for providing lunch.
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Wednesday, Oct. 21 Inside Northside, Honda of Covington and Real HOUSE Builder Wives Team of Covington volunteered today! Thank you to Columbia Street Tap Room for lunch.
Photos: **Our camera was off site today!! Please share your photos with us! Contact [ Wendy ] for details.

Tuesday, Oct. 20 Whitney Bank and Mary, Queen of Peace volunteered today alongside Habitat family partners. Thank you to our volunteers and to Copelands for a fantastic lunch.
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Saturday, Oct. 17 We were blessed with many groups today: St. Tammany West Chamber Cultural Economy Women, SCP Poole Corp, First Community Bank, Diversified Foods, and First Baptist Church. Thank you to Lakeview Regional Medical Center for lunch!
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Friday, Oct. 16 Donahue Favret Contractors closed their office for the day for their annual corporate team building day volunteering with Habitat. They brought their barbeque pit and cooked lunch for volunteers.
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Thursday, Oct. 15 Thank you volunteers: Latter & Blum, Resource Bank and Mandeville Republican Club. And thank you to McAllister's for lunch.
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Wednesday, Oct. 14 Thank you friends, HFHSTW Staff, FARA and State Farm/C.J. Ladner for working up until the rain drove us out today. Thank you to our Tuesday WB volunteers: The Real HOUSE Builder Wives Team of Covington, Children's Advocacy Center, and Ochsner's Golden Opportunity for all your hard work. And a big thank you to Honeybaked Ham, Rusty Pelican and La Madelaine for feeding our hungry crews!
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Monday, Oct. 12 What a great first week of Women Build! As of today, we have had a total of 238 volunteers on site! One week down, three to go. Join us!

Saturday, Oct. 10 Welcome SCP Pool Corp Women, Christ Episcopal, St. Tammany Homestead, Habitat STW Homeowners, Northlake Tennis and friends! And thank you Lakeview for providing lunch! Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Friday, Oct. 9 Welcome DIVAs, HBA Women, Northlake Tennis and Friends of Maurer! And thank you to WOW Wingery for lunch!
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Thursday, Oct. 8 Welcome Covington Rotary, FARA and Northlanke Tennis! Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Wednesday, Oct. 7 Thank you to Northlake Tennis and FARA for volunteering today! We're making great progress. Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr

Oct. 6, 2009, Tuesday
Habitat STW's Women Build was joined by a special guest to help build with local volunteers today. Mrs. Supriya Jindal helped raise walls on the Cotham family home with Friends of H2O Salon and Spa. Also joining us were our W.A.T.C.H. supporters , who are committed to building a better community by sponsoring Women Build this year and the next two years. Thank you Coffee Rani for serving our lunch. TV Channels 4, 6 and ABC 26 covered the event and expects to air their stories tonight at 6pm. The Times-Picayune had some great photos and The St. Tammany Farmer had a fantastic report. See them both.
Photos: Picasa | Facebook | Flickr | Video

Oct. 3, 2009, Saturday
(See Photos ) We had 65 Women Build volunteers who made Saturday such a productive day. Thank you to all the groups who volunteered and to Lakeview for providing lunch and snacks!

Oct. 2, 2009, Friday
Wall Raising Ceremony: Friday, Oct. 2nd was cancelled due to inclement weather and poor conditions onsite. Even though the ceremony was cancelled, Habitat construction staff decided to get the project started and began raising the walls on one home. "We'd like to stay on schedule as best as we can," said Women Build construction supervisor Hannah Krieger-Benson. "We have a large group of volunteers Saturday that will pick up the momentum." We're expecting the media to come back Saturday to cover the action!

Anyone who wants to witness the wall raising are welcome to watch at 9a.m., but only registered volunteers will be allowed to participate. Our next day of volunteer opportunities is Wednesday, Oct. 7th. Please register online or call 893-3172 if you have any questions.

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