Girls Play House, Women Build Them

Article by Cynthia Froid

On Wednesday, September 26, the Cynthia Froid Group (CFG) once again hosted Women Build Day in North Minneapolis. CFG, along with co-organizer and long time pal Susan Boren, rallied the support of thirteen other female volunteers to spend an entire day hammering, sawing, painting, and of course, writing checks. Big ones. The group donated approximately $5,000 to the organization. 

Habitat for Humanity formed the first Women Build program in the late 1990’s after the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project was launched. Women Build typically consists of an all female crew, female supervisor, and female volunteers. Supervisor Ashley Rose stated Tuesday that a family had not yet been identified for the home at 2907 Knox Avenue N, but the family will be expected to contribute over 100 hours of their time in building the home. Additionally, they’ll be required to take classes on household maintenance, financial management and other useful home ownership necessities.

Women love supporting other women. Since the majority of people who struggle with affordable housing or who live in poor conditions are women and children, it only makes sense that women come together to support each other achieve their housing dreams.

Froid and Boren organized a group in the summer of 2017 to build a home in North Minneapolis, and vowed to make it an annual tradition. Many of the same volunteers returned this past week, along with first-timers as well. Cathy Rydell, Mill District resident and Executive Director and CEO of American Academy of Neurology stated that she had wanted to volunteer for Habitat since she met President Jimmy Carter in an airport in North Dakota in the mid 1970’s. He was there building a home and urged her to do the same. She promised she would, and nearly forty years later, she fulfilled that promise.

To learn more about Habitat for Humanity and Women Build, organize your own group of volunteers or donate money, please visit tchabitat.org.

Susan Boren and Cindy Froid would like to thank the following volunteers for their time, muscle, money and compassion: Virginia Mills, Ellen Young, Cathy Rydell, Nell Reuckl, Chris Bray, Lynn Burn, Wendy Caslavka, Elizabeth Hawn, Paula Meyer, Angela Morken, Susan Plimpton, Phyllis Saltzman, Karen Kepple and Wendy Dayton.