Women from around Essex County came together to help build affordable homes during Habitat for Humanity’s semi-annual Women Build Week from Oct. 14-18.
Thirty volunteers worked on 10 homes in Haverhill and six homes in Hamilton. The women, including state Rep. Kristin Kassner, D-Hamilton, and a woman who will buy one of these homes, kicked off the week of giving back by laying cobblestone paths to the entrances of the new homes in Hamilton with event sponsor Windover Construction, according to a statement from Habitat for Humanity.
That project will include 10 units built in five duplex buildings on Asbury Street. Two of the buildings will have three-bedroom units, another will have two-bedroom units and two will have one-bedroom units.
Each one will cost upwards of $200,000, depending on the number of bedrooms, and will be sold to families making $40,000 to $80,000 a year who are chosen from a lottery.
Later in the week, volunteers worked with sponsor and woman-owned construction management company Pidgeon & Co. to square the foundation and install sill plates for a Haverhill project taken on by the nonprofit. They also finished and painted back decks, according to the statement.
Four of the future owners of the Hamilton and Haverhill homes are single mothers, and all are “low- to moderate-income, hardworking families who have been working alongside volunteers to help build their own homes,” the statement indicates.
“Women Build is an initiative that empowers women to positively impact lives in their communities in a supportive and inclusive environment. Since 1991, Women Build volunteers from all walks of life have come together to build stronger, safer communities.”