Women take over Habitat for Humanity build (10 photos)

It’s around 10 a.m. on Sunday morning, and Kylie Edwards is looking to get some hands-on experience and help out wherever she can during the Habitat for Humanity Women Build campaign at 685 McAllen Street in Bayview.

“So far it’s just been getting everything level and straight - making it look nice - so we’ll see how that continues to go,” Edwards chuckled.

Edwards, a 23-year-old pharmacy student at the University of Waterloo, is currently doing a placement at Group Health Centre.

She and two of her colleagues jumped at the chance to be a part of this year’s Women Build campaign, which will see 45 women install siding, flooring and doors - and whatever else Habitat for Humanity needs work on in order to finish the first of two habitat homes scheduled to go up on McAllen. 

“The three of us thought it would be a great way to spend a Sunday being able to help people, and kind of get our hands dirty out here,” said Edwards. “We were looking forward to it.”

Habitat for Humanity Sault Ste. Marie and Area Resource Coordinator Pauline Pennett told SooToday that the Women Build campaign began in 1991 with the intention of empowering women to help segments of the population most prone to poverty, while learning some tangible skills along the way.

“It feels amazing,” said Pennett. “We have a lot of strong women in the community, and until you actually bring them together, you don’t know what they can do.”

“We’re empowering them, we’re teaching them to build and fix their homes - to maybe go into a trade that they’ve never thought of going into before.”

Pennett says that a family has been selected to live at the habitat home at 685 McAllen Street, but contrary to what some people believe, that family does not simply get a “free home.”

They’re required by Habitat for Humanity to complete 500 volunteer hours by working at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and the build site.

When the keys are handed over, the family is obligated to pay down a zero-interest, geared-to-income mortgage.

“Every mortgage payment goes back into the fund to help build a house for someone else,” Pennett said.

More than $5,000 in pledges were collected for the three-day Women Build event, which will end up going toward the construction of more habitat homes.

“Everybody who put in an application and who came through with the pledges are all building,” Pennett said. “We were expecting to only have one day of build, and we had to extend it to three. It's amazing."