Watch CBS News

Women Join Forces To Build Homes, And Rebuild Lives, In West Pullman

(CBS) -- It's a neighborhood being transformed by hard work. Dozens of women in West Pullman are volunteering to build homes from the ground up.

CBS 2's Jim Williams checks in with one new homeowner we first met a year ago who's done her share of hammering and sawing.

A year ago Angela Spencer and her daughter and dozens of Habitat for Humanity volunteers began their work on a house for her.

Her sweat equity has paid off.

"It's more than what I envisioned," she says.

Eight homes are finished, with eight more to go here in West Pullman. It's what Habitat for Humanity calls "Women Build."

"Women Build is about women coming together as a community to support another woman who is leading her family to a better life with a new home in a new community," Jen Parks says.

It's women from many communities.

Shea Brown and her colleagues at Wells Fargo started volunteering four years ago.

"One of my favorite things volunteering with Habitat is you get to see all of your hard work at the end of the day," she says.

Habitat for Humanity teaches the volunteers how to do it. The women supply the muscle.

Catherine Goins, a mother of three, is building her own house now, after working on Angela's home.

"She was pregnant out here helping me and my family," Spencer says.

It's come full circle.

To get one of the Habitat for Humanity homes owners have to show financial need, quality for a mortgage and agree to help with the construction.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.