The Women Build volunteers of Habitat for Humanity Grand Traverse Region have been preparing for the May 1st kick off event for months. We've worked diligently to get the foundation ready. My main concern was the weather- very unpredictable this time of year. The night before the county had a serious thunderstorm. But...come Saturday morning the sun was gloriously shining on the build site.
The groundbreaking program included scripture readings and prayers from 4 area members of the Faith community. The 4 member female group Sashay performed several songs and the future homeowner family was introduced. Knowing that the project was funded as a memorial for Lt. Col Sandra Schlueter a Leelanau County resident who served in the Air Force for 22 years, I was most appreciative that Sandra's brother and sister-in-law attended the event. Dave Schlueter was able to give us a real understanding of just how special his sister was and how she impacted the lives of so many people during her lifetime. It seems very fitting that she continues to positively impact the lives of people even after her death.
Lowe's is the sponsor of National Women Build Week and by having over 75% women volunteers on the site our Habitat affiliate will receive a $5,000 gift card from Lowe's- wonderful things will be done with that gift. Every volunteer was wearing the official Lowe's red shirt and this alone was an amazing sight. All in all we had over 40 volunteers on site Saturday.
Before I took on this project, my main concern was how to keep a group of volunteers busy and productive every day on site. This particular day we had so many people on site that Victor and I looked at each other and were somewhat distraught. I knew that we had lots to do but the walls had to be up first and that didn't take 40 people! Safety became a main concern. Once enough walls were in place, we were finally able to put teams on various tasks.
The NMC class had done a great job building the wall sections. Really-only one window opening needed to be moved over and I thought that was outstanding. The ladies applied 1" rigid blue board to the outside of the walls and taped the seams. A crew worked in the basement and leveled the dirt floor so the concrete can be poured. We had a bucket brigade going to remove excess dirt through the egress window well. The top plate was nailed across to join the walls and bracing was put into place. All in all quite an accomplishment for one day of building!!!
When the day was done and Vic and I shared our thoughts, I think we were both a bit overwhelmed by the emotions of the day. We both tear up when we talk about Jennifer's emotions as the front wall was raised and she saw her front door opening for the first time. That made this whole thing just a little more real for her.
Women who have never pounded a nail in before were using a hammer for the first time! Women who have never used a power tool before were excited to be cutting with the circular or table saw. Picturing this should give you some insight into the safety concern of it all- there was much teaching and correcting going on. The women were there to help and learn and I think at the end of every day they accomplished that.
Keep checking back as I'll be updating and posting more photos- Thanks to everyone for volunteering. We've been having a great time . Nancy Lisabeth
Nailing into the hard yellow pine of the truss chord proved quite difficult as well as pounding through the metal truss gusset. This crew of women were troopers and really had to use those muscles. 
