by Christian Buday
5/27/2017

If you have driven down Chamberlain Street during the past few months, you would have probably seen that there are two houses being built. This is a big project being put on by a group called Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization, first founded in 1976 which creates simple yet well-made houses for people in need. They have organizations all over the world including the U.S., Africa and Europe. The current Holliston project is to help two families led by single moms. They both previously experienced poor living environments and Habitat for Humanity will be providing them with a home. The two single moms will be learning home maintenance so that they will be able to maintain their new homes.

During the month of May, Habitat for Humanity participated in an event called “Women’s Build.” This is a volunteer opportunity for women of all ages to help in the construction of houses and help families in need. No prior experience is needed to participate and there is a supervisor with professional experience teaching the volunteers.

Ted Oxholm, above right, the Site Supervisor for this project said that there are two efforts. First, Women’s Build provides helping hands on projects from volunteers who want to contribute to their community. Second, it teaches the volunteers and the new homeowners about maintaining a home and construction. The Women’s Build teams were made up of 15 people each, on site per day and they all had team names such as Hammers of Hope, Beth’s Building Buddies, Colantonio Crushers, and Homes Built by Crossfit.

This seemed like a fun project for the workers and volunteers. The women worked hard and made some real progress on the project while joking and having a blast. Ted got what he wanted. The volunteers were able to learn a thing or two about home care and construction while giving a hand to Habitat for Humanity. Another thing that caught my attention was that students at Keefe Tech were also on site.  The project provided students with hands on experience in various home building trades. The first house is expected to be completed by Fall/Winter 2017 while the second house should be completed by Spring/Summer 2018.