Women Build excitement for Northwoods Habitat for Humanity project

Teams are forming for the first Northwoods Habitat for Humanity home to be built by women.

Women Build is a Habitat International program that encourages women to make a difference by building homes and communities in a construction environment where they can learn the necessary skills they might not otherwise have the opportunity to learn.

The home will be built beginning Sept. 14 at the corner of Fourth Street and Central Avenue Southeast in Nymore. The family who will earn the home has not been identified.

To sign up for a team, go to habitatbemidji.org/Women%20Build.html for a registration form and information. The deadline for team signup is May 15.

Women Build doesn't exclude men, but invites women to be the majority of volunteers on a building site. On the registration form, women can check the kinds of work they would like to participate in, from framing and siding to plumbing and site cleanup and providing meals.

Cat Donat, Women Build leader, said the Women Build Committee is raising the equivalent, including in-kind, of $92,000. The fundraising will begin Sunday through May 10 with businesses sponsoring donation boxes on their checkout counters in the shape of pink houses. Customers are encouraged to add $1 to their purchases toward the Habitat Women Build house.

Another fundraiser during the summer will feature "Women, Wine and Sweets" from 4:30-7 p.m. June 4. Tickets cost $20. Also June 7-11, diners at Sparkling Waters will receive a coupon noting that 5 percent of their food sales will go to Women Build. There also will be a barbecue demonstration by Sue Doeden and a Brigid's Cross Irish Pub benefit trivia contest in August.

For more information, go to the Web site or call Courtney at 751-4649.