Women-built house provides family's new home

Habitat for Humanity of Springfield, Junior League of Springfield, and Ozark Technical Community College's Project CREW are about to make the lives of the Tanner family much better. In the next month or so, Saundra Tanner and her daughters Stephanie, 12, and Jessica, 10, will have a new home one officially designated an "all-women build."

Tanner is "real excited" about the prospect of her family having a home of their own, although she admits that owning a home is going to be "different." She and her daughters look forward to moving in.

Marci Bowling, chair of Women Helping Women, a program of Junior League of Springfield, said that the group's mission is to make the community a better place for women and children. Sponsoring an all-women-built home was one way to accomplish that mission. She called Tanner, as a single mom with two daughters, a "wonderful fit" to the organization's goals.

The house indeed is being built primarily by women. As Jennifer Jackson, Project CREW coordinator for Ozarks Technical Community College, put it, "The Junior League provided a substantial amount of the funding $15,000 and Project CREW, which is all women, worked on it during the week as part of our classes. We also did four women-build weekends."

Jackson added, however, that some men have worked on the house. "Habitat for Humanity uses volunteer labor. People can walk onto the job site at any time and say, I'm here to volunteer,' and there has been some of that on this project."

The house is on a corner lot in Habitat of Springfield's McAl (Model Community for Affordable Living) subdivision. With Habitat of Springfield's mission to eliminate substandard housing in Greene County, constructing homes in the McAl subdivision is one way the program is making decent, affordable homes available to lower income families.

Since the first local Habitat house was built in 1989, 186 area adults and children now live in decent homes provided by the program. Executive director Donna Jones said that this year will see the 50th home built. Nine were built in 2000, eight more are scheduled for this year, and nine are planned for 2002.

The homes aren't a handout. The program selects families carefully on the basis of need, ability to pay and willingness to partner. Through Habitat for Humanity of Springfield, Tanner is able to purchase the home for her family at a price that fits her budget the value of the materials used with a Habitat no-profit, no-interest loan. Jones indicated that most Habitat house payments average around $210 a month, including taxes and insurance.

"It will be nice to put money toward something I'll own (rather) than throwing it away on rent," Tanner said.

Part of the deal families agree to is performing 300 hours of "sweat equity," which includes at least 100 hours building their own home, plus hours helping others build theirs.

Alongside volunteers and Project CREW students, Tanner has helped put up the walls and also worked on framing and siding.

"It's been different," she said. "I've learned a lot of stuff I didn't know beforehand."

Volunteer and Junior League member Christi Meyer and her husband have also worked on the house. Meyer said, "I enjoy going out and working on the building. Besides personal satisfaction, it's great to see the process. We start from scratch and end up making people a home. We're all out there to learn, and it's a really good feeling. Everyone's happy to leave knowing they've accomplished something tangible."

Bowling, too, has tried her hand at construction. "I have a desk job during the week; it's fun to go out, hammer and nail, and come back in a few days to see what someone has built upon your work. It's nice to drive by and say I helped build this house for this family. Very concrete."

When Tanner heard that her house would be the all-women build sponsored by Junior League with OTC's Project CREW taking part, she "thought that was so cool with women involved, we won't have mistakes on this one!"

The idea of an all-women-built home is "something that has grown nationally," Jones said. "We as women don't traditionally have that type of training, so typically when we are on a job site we stand there. Men pick up saws and women get relegated to sweeping up and that sort of thing. With the all-women build, we wanted women to be involved in the actual build. It's empowering when women get to participate fully," she said.

The women of Project CREW have gained experience through hands-on training while helping build the Tanner home. In fact, this year's Project CREW graduation ceremony will be held June 8 at the house site. "The Project CREW women have worked really hard on this house," Bowling said.

Meyer said, "Whenever Habitat decides to break ground, these women of Project CREW get a chance to go out and work. We (Women Helping Women) are their mentors with whatever they need; we are paired with one of them and may do such things as help them put a resume together."

Meyer said that working on the Habitat house gives Project CREW students an opportunity to work with contractors who are volunteering. The students learn from the contractors in a real-world setting and make contacts for future job placement.

"Women sometimes tend to take a back seat and say I can't do that' well why not? If you're capable of climbing a ladder, you can get on the roof. You can curl your hair and wear makeup and drive nails. If they just knew the self-satisfaction," said Meyer.

"I can put a party dress on and go to a ball the same night, I like to wear different shoes," Meyer added.

Tanner is going to wear a different hat that of homeowner. While she may call it an accident that she found Habitat for Humanity, it was an opportunity to better her family's situation. They definitely give you a hand up. Not a handout."

Jones said, "What you can say most about Habitat for Humanity is, it works. We're not just building homes, we are leveling the playing field for some families that never before had a stable address."

Habitat for Humanity's achievements not only benefit individual families, but the whole community. According to Jones, research indicates reduced crime rates as a result of home ownership. She cited an example from Florida where the area Habitat for Humanity did a blitz-build, constructing 101 houses in a very short period of time. Crime in the area subsequently dropped 68 percent.

The co-founder of Habitat for Humanity International, Millard Fuller, wrote in "More than Houses: How Habitat for Humanity is Transforming Lives and Neighborhoods," "We build good houses. That is basic. But we strive equally to build communities."

According to Jones, it takes about 4,500 volunteer hours to build a home. Last year, 1,241 volunteers, including those serving on the board and committees and working in the ReStore, 4535 W. Chestnut Expwy., registered more than 33,000 hours in the program.