This weekend I had the honor and privilege to be a part of the Inaugural Women Build 2011 with the Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity. This was my first Habitat for Humanity build and I can say today without a doubt that I know that it will not be my last. What I learned from this experience is something that I have known but didn't fully understand until yesterday. That lesson is that giving is better than receiving. Yes, the lesson that you were taught as a child but do not really understand until you are older and somewhat wiser. I finally got it!
When I was told that the volunteers had to be on site at 6:30, the not a morning person side of my brain screamed "6:30 A.M. In The Morning!!!", they could not be serious. I don't have to be at work for my day job that pays me at 6:30 in the morning. Then they said we would be there until around 3:30 that afternoon. At this point, I am thinking no freaking way. I didn't know I would be there all day. I thought I would show up for a couple of hours or so and paint then go enjoy my Saturday. The group meeting on the Thursday prior to the scheduled on site build we were given notice that we will possibly doing more than painting. I begin to feel a little better because painting is not a strength of mine. As an added bonus, we also got our PINK tool belts, hard hats and official Women Build T-Shirts!
The morning of the build was a typical of late October and simply put, it was cold. However, when I showed up on site there was breakfast and my beloved coffee. Things immediately began looking up. This site had a totally of six houses that were being built for families, with one being a all women build house. We were briefed as a group in our morning meeting and given our assigned S.O.S. (Supervisor On Site) then followed by a prayer before we started work. The all women build site had two S.O.S's with one being a woman. The funny thing about this is that Steve, the male S.O.S. was less than thrilled about being assigned the women build home, in the beginning, but since then has changed his mind. He told us that women are better at a majority of the work because they pay more attention to details. He was easy to work with because in his direction he would often remind the team that hey, remember it can't be difficult if men do it, right? With that being said, thanks to Steve I know how to install interior doors. The door team, which I was part of, installed a total of four bedroom doors, three closet doors and two bathroom doors all in one day. The other team Steve worked with installed base boards throughout home. The third team lead by Debbie was responsible for painting. That was the team that I made sure I was not on and we are all happy about that.
The great thing about Habitat for Humanity is that all of this work was done right beside the future homeowner. She is a single mother of two and was there on site working just as hard if not harder than the rest of the volunteers. As a volunteer it was awesome to see the person we were building this home for on site. Many times we are so far removed from who we are trying to help through charitable donations and organizations that we become so out of touch with their reality. I am thankful that Habitat for Humanity makes sure this disconnect does not take place. I left the build site with my feet and back hurting and did not care one bit. This is because I felt how good it was to help someone without caring if they would ever know my name or ever try to return the favor. That is what I call the real power of giving!
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