A house for women, by women

Published 1:59 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

SNOQUALMIE – It was noisy and sweaty work creating House 23 during Habitat for Humanity of East King County’s drive to construct 21 houses in two weeks, but it didn’t faze the all-women team of builders putting in the long hours so that Jill Mortenson, a single mother, could own her first home.

Mortenson wasn’t able to work on her new house because of injuries she suffered in a car accident 11 years ago. Instead, she completed her 500 hours of “sweat equity” giving massages, taking inventory and doing fund-raising.

She said women building houses for other women is common at Habitat sites.

“It’s a Habitat tradition all over America,” Mortenson said. “I understand it’s because a lot of Habitat owners are single women, and it’s also to give women the experience of having some success doing some construction.”

The Women’s Build house was sponsored entirely by women, who raised the money needed to construct it with the help of handcrafted donation cards made by fellow Habitat homeowner Katharine Warmerdam.

Mortenson and her 13-year-old daughter, Kelsey, have lived in North Bend for five years and resided in Snoqualmie for seven. They said they are in awe of the opportunity to move in to their “own” house.

Jennifer Strasburger of Mercer Island was one of the all-women volunteers and works for Habitat For Humanity of Seattle. She said she has done other housing projects through the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church in a program called Homes Without Boundaries.

“I kind of got hooked on the concept,” she said.

Hannah Kimball, recently retired from Boeing, was in Snoqualmie for both weeks to help build Mortenson’s house. She said the blitz build was a good way to donate her time to someone in need, just as she needed assistance at times in her life.

“It’s a good opportunity to give somebody a lucky break like I got,” Kimball said.

Kimball decided to do the blitz build after attending a fund-raising breakfast in May. She was impressed by the camaraderie among the women.

“Now I want to do it all over the country,” she said.

Paula Miller works for Honeywell in Red Lion, Pa., and took a week’s worth of vacation to come to Snoqualmie. Like Strasburger, she has done other Habitat For Humanity projects and is hooked.

“Habitat-itis, that is what it is,” she said. “You just fall in love with it or get addicted or something.”