Print Issue: March 6, 2003

Marist Has First High School All-Women Habitat Project

Members of the Women Build committee at Marist School and student participants gather at the entrance to the school. Marist, which established the first high school chapter of Habitat for Humanity, has now organized the first school chapter of Women Build, an all-women building crew. Habitat, founded in Americus, Georgia, builds homes for the working poor. Cathy Belatti, second from right, chairs Marist's Women Build chapter and Karen Shanahan, third from right, is Marist community outreach coordinator.

By PRISCILLA GREEAR

ATLANTA-Picture women hammering, drilling and laying siding to build a house, as men support them serving refreshments and making meals, passing along tools and tidying the work site. This will be the scene at a south Atlanta construction site this spring as women of the Marist School community build a Habitat for Humanity house.

Marist holds the distinction of having the first high school chapter of Habitat. Likewise, the private Catholic school will be the first high school in the national to launch a Habitat for Humanity Women Build project.

"As women who have been blessed with safe homes in which to raise and nurture our children, this project is an opportunity for us to join together and show our support for those less fortunate by building a safe, decent and affordable house for a family here in Atlanta," said Celia McCarty, committee member for Marist School Women Build.

About 210 volunteer Marist female teachers, students 16 and older, mothers and alumni have raised $65,000 to finance the construction of a Habitat house for a single mother of three. The project embodies the nature of service, which is at the heart of Marist School. A ground-breaking will be held March 22 and building will continue seven Saturdays before concluding on May 10, Mother's Day weekend. Through a combination of corporate sponsors, personal donations and the help of family and friends, Marist women will put their Women Build plan into action. They join other Women Build chapters of Habitat for Humanity who have already built 350 homes across the nation, and plan to expand into other countries.

"We're very pleased to have something like that coming out of Marist. We've been involved in Habitat for Humanity . . . It seems like the next thing in the order of progression that we'd be involved in," said principal Father Joel Konzen, SM. "It seems to be generating a lot of interest from parents, teachers and alumni . . . For us, it helps us to see the whole service dimension of the school mission really alive a little differently than what we've done in the past and still with Habitat."

Habitat "allows us to see some practical end to our best motives and efforts," he said. Volunteers can come to any or all of the construction days.

Cathy Belatti, a Marist mother who is chairperson of its Women Build committee, has served nearly five years on the Women Build steering committee of Habitat for Humanity International, headed by honorary chair Rosalyn Carter. As she has built Habitat homes with family members as far off as Hungary and South Korea, Belatti was challenged by Marist outreach coordinator Karen Shanahan to start the women's project at the school. She also sees it as a great opportunity for women to come into the traditionally male area of construction and learn skills they might not otherwise have a chance to acquire.

"One of the first objectives that came to us before starting this project was it was a way for women, mothers and female teachers and students 16 years and above, to work together on a building . . . A lot of student building projects are primarily for students and this is an opportunity for mothers and students to work together," said Belatti. "People are so excited about this, all the women building . . . It's not about excluding men. It's about including women."

No experience is necessary, as this mother of four has gone from being a "complete novice" to leading a crew putting up aluminum siding on a home.

"Anytime you do something outside your comfort zone . . . and learn a new task it just broadens your horizons and allows you to grow as a person," she said. Even if people only join one project, "that newfound consciousness (of service) really just opens up possibilities for other aspects of their life."

She recalled one Habitat build she did with her second daughter. "You're so focused on the task and you really just work as a team. It's kind of like a challenge learning and being together and enjoying one another and laughing and getting frustrated. All the things that go into construction of a house. It really builds your spirits together."

Marist science teacher Tricia Glidwell is ready to try a new experiment.

"I have never helped to build a Habitat house before, and I don't think of myself as having the skills needed to build a house. I chose to do it because it is something I have never done before. It will extend me outside my comfort zone, and I'll get a chance to work with other women like me for whom this is a challenge."

Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, one of over 1,700 U.S. affiliates of Habitat for Humanity International, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing affordable housing to Atlanta's low-income families. Since 1983, volunteers from corporations and faith-based and civic organizations have worked in partnership with qualified homebuyers to construct modest, sturdy homes, which are then purchased through no-interest, no-profit mortgages. To date, more than 700 homes have been completed.

The Women Build program encourages women to build Habitat homes, enabling them to positively impact the lives of children while making homeownership a present reality for families. Women make up 50 percent of Habitat's volunteer force, yet often because of lack of training they account for less than 15 percent of work on the construction site. Nationally, 47.5 percent of Habitat homes are built for women heads of household. By receiving training as part of the build, these women homeowners are better equipped to maintain their homes and consequently are more confident.

Belatti is grateful for the "encouragement and dedication to community service" of Marist School and in particular for the support of Father Konzen, Shanahan and Marist committee members Chris Nort and Celia McCarty, as well as that of Jill Redman of Atlanta Habitat. "The whole Marist community's support has been beautiful."

Father Konzen is excited to help Belatti and all the women at construction site. "I'll just kind of take my orders," he said.

For information about Marist School Woman Build or to make a donation, contact Chris Nort at (404) 869-1186 or chnort@aol.com.