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Women Build Day attracts 50 volunteers

By Carl Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: May 6, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Women have long been breaking through the glass ceiling in corporate offices. Now they will be swinging hammers to break through the glass drywall.

Some 50 women already have signed up to work on the first Women Build Day on Saturday, May 9, as construction starts on a new home by West Pasco Habitat for Humanity. The nonprofit group builds homes for low-income families.

"We didn't know we were going to get this positive of a response," Rick Pittenger, resource coordinator for West Pasco Habitat, said in a phone interview. Habitat has closed registration since it has plenty of workers.

The public is welcome to witness the groundbreaking at 8 a.m. this Saturday, May 9, at 6708 Atis St. The address is south of Massachusetts Avenue about midway between Rowan and Little roads.

Women volunteers have long served in Habitat offices and its ReStore thrift store, at 3531 Grand Blvd., Pittenger observed. But relatively few women volunteers had labored on the homes.

"The whole idea is to empower women and get them involved in construction projects," Pittenger remarked.

Lowe's home improvement stores are the national sponsors for Women Build events. "Women Build is not about excluding men; it's about including women and serving more families," a Habitat press release explains.

"It's going to be great because we just selected a new family" to occupy the house on Atis Street once built, Pittenger said. The family of five will be introduced at the May 9 event.

The 8 a.m. groundbreaking will feature a blessing of the land by the Rev. Dan Campbell, pastor of Community United Methodist Church in Holiday. Campbell is president of the Coalition for the Homeless of Pasco County.

To help raise money for projects, West Pasco Habitat is planning its second annual golf tournament. It will be held Friday, May 15, at Seven Springs Golf and Country Club in New Port Richey. The scramble-format tournament will have an 8 a.m. shotgun start.

The entry fee is $75 per player. The entry deadline is May 11.

For more information, call the Habitat office at 727-859-9038, send an e-mail to wphabitat@yahoo.com. or go online to www.habitatwestpasco.org>.

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