Habitat’s Women Build returns next week

For around 10 years, Habitat for Humanity of Northeast Georgia has been participating in an event called Women Build. This event was organized by Habitat for Humanity International, and is something regional hubs have picked up and participated in.

Nanette Baughman, Executive Director of the Habitat for Humanity of Northeast Georgia, has seen and participated in multiple Women Builds since becoming executive director.

“About three Women Builds ago, we kind of changed our format as to how we were doing it,” Baughman said. “It has now become more of a team-oriented activity for groups, for churches, for businesses to kind of have a team-building activity with their own folks. So we encourage folks to create a team of anywhere from eight to 12 people, and although the name is Women Build, we do not relegate only to women.”

Even though the event was originally created to encourage women’s participation in a traditionally male-dominated field, Baughman wants everyone to know that women are not the only ones who are invited to participate.

Teams and individuals of all ages are invited to participate in Women Build, and this year, the event will have a team consisting of the high school’s women’s basketball team. “We encourage everybody to come up with a team name so that we can kind of highlight them. Well, the high school team, their team name is Play it Forward,” Baughman said.

The event not only benefits Habitat for Humanity, but it also benefits the community in multiple ways. Baughman says that “the community is so very generous and so very caring about each other, often they just need an opportunity or an outlet.” Baughman believes that this event could be an outlet for some people.

There are 14 teams who will be participating in Women Build over the span of seven days, and while there are limited spots available, Baughman encourages people to reach out to volunteer anyway. People are not obligated to volunteer as a group, they can come out and participate for as long as they are able. Baughman requests that individuals inform her before showing up in order to plan for construction.

“Last year’s Women Build, we had almost 200 participants within the seven days of the event,” Baughman said. “When you get that many people swinging a hammer, painting or hanging siding, you kinda get a lot done. So that’s a direct impact to our partner families. … The indirect impact to the participants would be the sense of accomplishment, not only of the work that they’ve done, but of the good that they have done.”

For more information, email director@habitatnega.org or call 706-754-5313, extension 202.