Hammers and saws echoed down Myrtle Street in Fort Worth on Friday. A typical construction site in many ways, except one.
"Women," volunteer Dottie Mendoza said laughing on top of a ladder. "It's just nice to give back."
The majority of volunteers on the project are women, part of Trinity Habitat for Humanity's Women Build Week, which is meant to lead up to International Women's Day on Sunday.
"We want women to know that they can do anything in strength and numbers," Lydia Traina with Trinity Habitat for Humanity said. "We can build a whole house. We can empower the young ladies in our lives. We can work together to really make a difference in the space of affordable housing."
The future homeowner is Daniella Passon, a single mother.
"You know, you never think women can just come out and just build a house," Passon said.
While single women are second only to couples in homeownership, fewer than 10% of the construction workers who build those homes are women.
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"I pray that it sends the message to other women that they are actually the glue that holds our world together," Perrin Mack said. Mack is a volunteer with Trinity Habitat for Humanity and the project manager on the Passon house. "Most women do not recognize how strong they are."
"I'm so thankful and grateful to have, I'm sorry, like a lot of people I don't know just take the time out of their schedule and just help make a dream of mine come true," Passon said as she held back tears and looked at the nearly finished frame of her new home. "This is what happens!"
