At a southside neighborhood in Indianapolis where two brand-new Habitat for Humanity homes have been constructed, a group of volunteers gathered in mid-August to finish up landscaping for the homes’ new owners.
It was dirty, sweaty work. Some volunteers hauled heavy rolls of dense turf grass, placing the rolls carefully onto the front yards before unrolling them to create a patchwork of new, smooth lawn. Others used shovels and rakes to prepare the ground before grass was placed. They also planted trees and flower beds.
The vast majority of the volunteers was women, including about a dozen from the Fishers Police Department.
FPD Sgt. Angela Ellison said two co-captains at the department gathered the FPD volunteers for this special Women Build project with Habitat for Humanity.
“We are super honored to be here to help with this project and to be with a bunch of amazing women from different organizations,” she said. “To have such a huge showing from our own police department of sworn officers and civilians, it’s awesome.”
FPD volunteers made up about half the women who showed up to help that day. Ellison said programs like this one can help encourage women to step into less-traditional roles.
“I have never laid sod before in my life and now I have such a great respect for anyone who does any of this kind of work professionally,” she said. “And for our officers to be out here doing it — a lot of them are younger — and seeing that, no matter what the challenge is, (women) can do it. I’m going to note that we have a 26-year-old officer who is 26 weeks pregnant. She’s a Marine, and she’s actually lifting sod, pushing wheelbarrows, using a pickaxe. She’s amazing. So, again, women can do anything.”
In addition to the physical labor, the FPD team raised more than $4,000 for Habitat for Humanity. Co-captain Kelsey Ramsey, FPD marketing and PR manager, said the funds went toward purchasing the sod and equipment for the project.
Ellison said it’s an honor to help Fishers’ neighboring communities.
“Because all of that just makes us better,” she said. “And I’m so proud of all of my colleagues for doing this. I could not be more proud and impressed by all of them.”
Habitat for Humanity Site Manager Olivia Kirk said the nonprofit’s Women Build event encourages women to participate in its volunteer homebuilding projects through fundraising and physical labor.
“It is incredibly important to raise the money for (the homes), but beyond that, it’s bringing communities together and it’s spreading the word of Habitat, because these women are all fundraising themselves, so they’re reaching out, probably to, you know, five to 10 people at a minimum, each,” she said. “One of our missions is to bring people together and enrich the community. So, that’s also a very important part of Women Build is expanding our network and bringing the community together.”
She said getting women involved helps break gender barriers.
“Construction is obviously a male-dominated industry, so (women) kind of get it in their head that, well, maybe I shouldn’t go out and do framing,” Kirk said. “But we like to tell people that you don’t have to have any construction skills to start this. You can come out here and have never picked up a hammer, which happens all the time. And by the end of the day, you will be putting up walls, putting up siding, because we have fantastic teachers.”
The two new homeowners were due to move into their homes in late August. Kirk said both are women — one has three children and the other has one child. Both are buying their homes from the nonprofit.
“There’s a huge misconception about Habitat that we’re giving homes away for free and that is not the truth,” Kirk said. “We provide affordable home ownership for members of our homebuyer program. And to be in our homebuyer program, you have to display three things to us — you have to show us the need, the affordability and the willingness to partner.”
Habitat holds the mortgages for its homebuyers and works with them to find an affordable mortgage payment schedule, she said. So far, it’s been able to provide mortgages with a zero-percent interest rate.
For more about the local nonprofit, visit indyhabitat.org.
Qualifying for a Habitat for Humanity home
Habitat for Humanity Site Manager Olivia Kirk said the nonprofit’s homebuyers go through a long process to qualify for a home.
First, they have to show a financial need for affordable housing, but they also have to show they can afford to pay the mortgage rate on top of regular home maintenance costs.
“Once you get through that application process, you start what we call our Habitat University classes, or Habitat U,” Kirk said. “It’s about four months where they do two hours a week. They come into class and learn things like financial literacy, homeowner maintenance, even like how to be a good neighbor — things like that, to set them up for long-term success in home ownership.”
Once they graduate, the physical labor begins. Each new homeowner puts in a minimum of about 20 days in the field, helping to build their homes.
“It is a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice to be a Habitat homebuyer,” Kirk said. “We like to consider it a hand up and not a handout.”
