Group needs funding to build

Donations to Women's Build, Habitat for Humanity down



By Jennifer Johnson | news@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 10:25 pm on 8/22/2009

To Heather McElroy, there's a certain feeling of empowerment that women get from building a house together.

Women Build, an all-female group that works with Habitat for Humanity, always has an overflow of volunteers ready to swing hammers or wield paintbrushes. Like many Habitat projects, everything from the roofing to landscaping, painting to siding is handled by volunteers.

"Everyone wants to get out and build," said McElroy, special events co-chair for Women Build. "But we need money before we can do that."

Charitable giving is down, a symptom of the weak economy, and it's slowing the work of all Athens area nonprofits.

"People are just really worried about what they spend their money on right now," McElroy said.

Athens Area Habitat for Humanity first started to see donations drop about a year ago, according to it Executive Director Spencer Frye.

"I would say that pretty much all nonprofits for the past year and a half have been experiencing a fall in their donor dollars," said Frye.

Women Build and Habitat for Humanity need $65,000 per house before they can break ground.

The nonprofit relies on money donations as well as volunteers to help build their homes.

"It really saves us a lot of money and allows us to maintain the affordability of the houses," Frye said. For $207 a month - plus taxes and insurance - a low-income family can afford a house of their own.

"There are a great number of hard-working poor people for whom the only reason they can't get into homeownership is because they have a lack of income," Frye said.
Despite economic hurdles, Athens Area Habitat is in the process of completing their 70th home.

Although Women Build's goal was to break ground by the end of the year, they might not be able to start working before 2010 rolls around. It takes Habitat about 12 to 20 weeks to build a house, but a lot longer to come up with the money to take that first step.

"We've been doing this eight months now, and we're not even halfway to our goal," McElroy said.

Last year, Women Build had a $10,000 grant from Lowe's, was given $4,000 by the Gainesville College Habitat, and had help from a Best Buy initiative to brainstorm and create signage.

"It's hard, with this economic environment, for individuals, churches or companies to put up the kinds of funds that they have in the past," Frye said.

In years past, Women Build had a waiting list of companies willing to sponsor houses. Now, corporate sponsorships are slow in coming, forcing the charity to rely more on donations from individuals. Women Build has sponsorship packets from $100 to $2,500, and have hosted men's bake sales and women's bridge games to help raise money for the next house.

For now, Women Build is working to get the word out about their cause with Google groups and a Facebook page while their representatives and volunteers try to rally donors from their schools, churches, businesses and neighborhoods.

McElroy is hoping that a planned bridge game at the Watkinsville Community Center in September will bring in a few extra dollars toward their next project, the fourth home that Women Build has helped construct.

"Everyone just wants to get out and build," McElroy said. "Hopefully we'll be able to do that soon."

For more information about Athens Area Habitat for Humanity or Women Build, go to www.athenshabitat.com.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, August 23, 2009