Women, grab your tools

INVERNESS — Got a hammer?

MATTHEW BECK

Linda Daly, left, vice president of Habitat for Humanity of Citrus County Inc., discusses the siding that will be put onto this new home Saturday with C.D. Perez, construction coordinator with Habitat for Humanity of Citrus County Inc. Daly, president of Daly & Zilch (Florida) Inc., with Perez and several dozen other women, will take part in a Women’s Build Saturday at site of two Habitat homes on North Wheeler Avenue in Inverness.

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If not, no problem. Habitat for Humanity of Citrus County has plenty to go around during its Women Build Day on Saturday.

More than 75 women are registered to work at two sites on Wheeler Avenue where the homes are being built by Habitat. The project day, partially funded by a $5,000 grant by Lowe’s, is geared toward getting women to test their carpentry skills while making a big difference in their community.

“We want to encourage women to come out and be advocates for affordable housing,” said Linda Daly, president of Daly-Zilch General Contracting and vice president of the Habitat Board of Directors.

Daly said the volunteers will be “hands-on” throughout the day. “We won’t turn anyone away,” she said, including men. “This is not about excluding men but more for women to get involved.”

Progress Energy Florida and Lowe’s of Inverness are sending volunteers to help with the project, said Jeanne Hirsch, spokeswoman for Habitat for Humanity.

The schedule include installing aluminum siding on the pair of houses that are already under construction as well as painting and other odd jobs.

Daly said no special skills are required — only a desire to help others.

“It’s a blessing to be involved with projects like this,” she said. “When the family moves in, they can say, ‘I own this!’ It gives them such pride.”

C.D. Perez, a beneficiary of a Habitat home and volunteer with the nonprofit group, said the project is close to her heart. Last June she had her dream of homeownership granted — home No. 55 — and feels strongly about how such a project can change lives.

“It gave me and my two sons a new outlook on life,” she said. 

Perez said by being involved in the building of her own home, she knows what it takes to hammer in each nail and paint each area on the wall. She also knows it is “priceless” when the building is finished and the key is turned in the lock for the first time, opening the door to a new life.

“I know how it changes life,” she said. “As a single parent I could never had afforded a house. It has given my sons neutral zones in their own room and a place in the center of the house where we can come together as a family. It’s changed our lives.”

For more information about the project or other volunteer opportunities, call (352) 563-2744 or visit www.habitatcc.org.