Habitat for Humanity hosts all-women crew
PARADISE » Three plots of land on Garden View Lane are going to be the newest sites for homes built by Habitat for Humanity this summer in an effort to get people back into permanent housing following the 2018 Camp Fire.
On Sunday, a crew of 30 women donning pink shirts arrived on the scene to take part in building the exteriors of two-bedroom homes. The weekend hosted a first for Habitat for Humanity of Butte County: an allwomen team event.
Becky Prater from Becky Prater Real Estate led the fundraiser and also sponsored the event.
“I love it,” Prater said. “I think there’s no reason why we can’t swing a hammer, dig a ditch or stick a cabinet on the wall.”
The crew was also fundraising for the nonprofit which has been working with families living on the ridge who lost their homes. The three houses that sit together are expected to be completed by the summer and will be the first houses in Paradise built by Habitat for Humanity since the fire.
Since the beginning of May, the nonprofit has raised $35,000 from sponsors and participants.
Jennifer Christensen, a soon Habitat homeowner, joined the fundraiser to work on one of the sites.
“It’s empowering to see a bunch of women out here,” said Christensen. “I feel blessed to rebuild my home. If it wasn’t for Habitat helping me and families like us who went through this horrible experience, it may not have happened.”
Christensen is a single mom who has been living with her two sons in a mobile home on the same property that she lived in before Paradise burned. For years, she had been trying to rebuild her home, she said. Ultimately, she had to give up the idea of building her home on the same property she had because the land could only fit a two-bedroom home and she need a three-bedroom house.
“My situation was a little bit different. I had a property and I didn’t want to turn in an application,” said Christensen. “But the volunteer team walked me through it and helped me turn it in on the last day that the application was due. And the day that they showed up at my door it was like the world dropped. There’s no words to explain it.”
The organization partnered with the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association to build the houses with insulating concrete forms.
“We’re trying to make these houses as fire-resistant as we can,” said Nicole Bateman, executive director of Butte Habitat for Humanity. “And this is just one of those measures.”
Families who will be moving into the homes are required to meet need, equity, and mortgage requirements. Members of each household are required to complete a minimum requirement of volunteer hours before they move in, said Bateman. Those hours may even include building their own homes, or the homes of others.
“They’re actually buying their house and they’re buying it for what they can afford,” said Bateman.
The organization has a goal of building 8-10 homes in a year, Bateman said.