Alachua Women Build, a chapter of Alachua Habitat for Humanity

Alachua Women Build, a chapter of Alachua Habitat for Humanity Alachua's Women Build encourages women to make a difference building homes and communities in Alachua County, FL.

Women wishing to volunteer may contact [email protected] Women Build is a Habitat for Humanity International program that encourages women to make a difference building homes and communities. Alachua's Women Build completed its first home in 1995 and is currently building house #14

On July 23, 2026 we celebrated with Tanisha and her family for her house dedication. Several of the Women Build voluntee...
07/29/2026

On July 23, 2026 we celebrated with Tanisha and her family for her house dedication. Several of the Women Build volunteers and steering members were attendance. The house was packed with Alachua Habitat for Humanity folks that helped to make this all possible, donors (thank you Kim Kazimour!), Gainesville City representatives, and friends and family of the Tanisha’s family. The dedication included an opening speech from Habitat CEO, Jessica Parrish followed by Susan Mitnick (Women Build Steering Committee member) to represent all the volunteers that worked along side Tanisha the last 7 months. Kristine Thompson, Director of Family Services for Habitat talked about all the hard work (classes, sweat equity…) and dedication that Tanisha showed throughout the entire process of applying and fulfilling all her responsibilities. Tanisha also had the opportunity to thank all the people that supported her throughout this process. Commissioner Ed Book discussed how the city works with Habitat to ensure a safe home. Then came the fun time of opening all the gifts from Gainesville Garden Club, North Florida Sewing Club -quilts, and Women Build (see photos). Following the blessing of the house, Tanisha received the keys to the house which brought out cheers and some tears. We wish Tanisha, Zay, Ry, Jay, and baby Ju many happy moments in their new home.

On July 12, 2026 a some of the Women Build steering committee met at Jill's house to put together the large bench the Ga...
07/29/2026

On July 12, 2026 a some of the Women Build steering committee met at Jill's house to put together the large bench the Gainesville Garden Club members purchased for Tanisha's front porch. It did not take long to put together which gave us time to have a wonderful sit down lunch provided by Jill along with fresh baked bread from Susan M as well as yummy extras from Sara M.

07/21/2026

🏠 Please join us as we celebrate Alachua Habitat’s 198th and Women Build’s 19th home dedication. Through our partnerships with the City of Gainesville, Wells Fargo, Dr. Kim Kazimour and countless community partners and volunteers, we are able homeownership dreams into reality! 🎊 See you Thursday!

Addendum to yesterday's post on our last Women Build day on House 19, Tanisha and family.
06/16/2026

Addendum to yesterday's post on our last Women Build day on House 19, Tanisha and family.

Saturday’s build (our last build day for Tanisha’s house) was packed with volunteers from Women Build and from the Gaine...
06/15/2026

Saturday’s build (our last build day for Tanisha’s house) was packed with volunteers from Women Build and from the Gainesville Garden Club. Several members of the garden club, led by Bill Copehaver of Grassroots Nursery came with their energy, enthusiasm, and sunscreen. Together with our volunteers they spent all morning transforming Tanisha’s yard into a lush landscape. They laid down sod, planted shrubs and a tree, spread grass seed, and spread pine bark. Huge Thank Yous go to the Gainesville Garden Club and Bill for their donation of materials and their time. Meanwhile some of our volunteers finished the last remaining items; installed the trim under the kitchen counter, corrected the door strike plate on the laundry room door, hung all mirrors, installed bathroom screen, installed the mailbox, removed overflow pieces of cement, and erected the shed (still needs the door installed). Lunch was provided by some of our steering members, Cheryl and Pat A. It has been such a wonderful build for this house, lots of fun and laughs and a few redos (😊). We look forward to the dedication and the handing over the house/keys to Tanisha and her family.

We completed a few minor things and did some touch up work last Saturday, June 6th.   All window screens were installed ...
06/08/2026

We completed a few minor things and did some touch up work last Saturday, June 6th. All window screens were installed as well as weatherstripping for the exterior doors. Some adjustments were made to both exterior doors. Touch paint on walls and trims was completed. Trim that attaches under the kitchen counter was cut and is ready to be attached next week. All tools/material with the exception of a few were removed from the house to be stored off site. The sand/dirt around the house was leveled in preparation for next week’s landscaping. Lunch was provided by the Gardenia Circle of the Gainesville Garden Club, thank you to all members and to Lisa Davies and Kathy Murphey for sharing it with us.
Next week will be our last build day. The day will be mostly constructing a beautiful yard for Tanisha and her family. This is always a fun day; you get to see the barren area around the house turn into a lush garden with a lawn in a matter of hours. The Gainesville Garden Club provides the plants and planting expertise, and Alachua Habitat for Humanity provides the sod and mulch. If you are interested in helping out, you can register on the hub:
https://alachuahabitat.volunteerhub.com/vv2/lp/womenbuild

We had a nice group of volunteers on Saturday, May 30th. Anna had a list of tasks for us, mostly small things, but time ...
06/02/2026

We had a nice group of volunteers on Saturday, May 30th. Anna had a list of tasks for us, mostly small things, but time consuming. Range hood completed and the box around it caulked and painted so it blends in perfectly. Completed the installation of the baseboards, filled the nail holes with putty, caulked around the boards, and touched up with paint. The final kick plates in the kitchen were installed. Towel bars and mirrors were installed in both bathrooms, still one more towel bar to install. We had hoped to apply another coat of exterior paint on the laundry room door, but it was too humid and we had rain on and off. We had a wonderful lunch from Kathleen Pagan, sandwiches, chips, bowtie salad, and watermelon. Thanks so much for lunch and joining us in the lunch circle. After lunch there was more touch up paint on doors, base boards and trim, at least we were able to see better where to touch up since the power was turned on last week. We have lights and ceiling fans! In addition, while we were off last week, fill dirt was added around the house and the forms for the shed slab and the sidewalk were set up.
There are just a few things left to do in the house, mostly touch up work. We also have landscaping coming up soon. Landscaping is a lot of fun; you get to see the barren area around the house turn into a lush garden with a lawn in a matter of hours. As soon as a date has been chosen, we will open up the hub. Check the hub later this week or early next week by clicking on the link below:
https://alachuahabitat.volunteerhub.com/vv2/lp/womenbuild

With a small crew of volunteers we managed to get quite a bit accomplished for Thursday (May 21st) build. With Tim’s ass...
05/22/2026

With a small crew of volunteers we managed to get quite a bit accomplished for Thursday (May 21st) build. With Tim’s assistance we managed to install just about all the baseboards. We just need to finish the hall closet and a small section of the hall way where it meets the kitchen. We installed the remaining door hardware for the last bedroom and Tim installed the permanent door handles for the front door. Our fantastic kitchen due finished with the range hood and even completed the box that goes around the kitchen exhaust vent! Karen painted the front door (looks fabulous) and had enough time to put one coat on the laundry room exterior door. This was no easy feat; she had to have fans blowing to keep the hordes of love bugs from landing on the wet paint. We all enjoyed a wonderful lunch from Loosey’s of turkey sandwiches, salad and chips – thanks so much to the owners Danny and Joy. After lunch we began the putty of nail holes on the baseboards and caulking along the baseboards. The mini mobile is now completely empty except for the large orange container. The mobile will be removed early this coming week to make room for the shed slab and fill dirt.
We are off this coming Saturday, May 23rd due to Memorial Weekend but will resume on May 30th. There is still much putty and caulking to do on the baseboards, paint the box for the kitchen exhaust, add another coat of paint to the laundry room exterior door, attach the kick plates in the kitchen and finish the remaining few pieces of baseboards.
Saturday, May 30th are open on the hub. Click on the link below to sign up and please encourage any of your friends that might be interested in signing up too:
https://alachuahabitat.volunteerhub.com/vv2/lp/womenbuild
You can also contact us with questions or for other information via our email: [email protected].

We had another very productive workday this past Saturday, May 16th. The vinyl flooring had been installed during the we...
05/20/2026

We had another very productive workday this past Saturday, May 16th. The vinyl flooring had been installed during the week - the floor company was impressed with how clean the floors were, and they were told, “but of course, this house is built by women!” We split into a few different groups. A large group of volunteers started and completed painting all the baseboard trim pieces. Because of the weather, the paint dried quickly and we were able to begin installing them. Our kitchen duo worked on installing the range hood, not an easy task. Another team rehung all the interior doors including the closet doors. While another team installed all the door handles. We had a group installing the window shutters around the front porch windows. In addition, toe kick plates were installed for both bathroom vanities. Cheryl (who sets up lunch for us every week) had saved several left-over quiches from a previous catered lunch to which she added a delicious pasta salad and Jill made another of her to-die-for desserts, this time with cherries and lots of whipped cream :) A big thank you to both of them. After lunch everyone continued with installing the baseboards. Our wonderful site supervisor, Anna, suggested coping the base boards: cut one board flush against the wall, while the second board is carved out perfectly contour around the first piece’s profile) This makes a much better look to the corner and creates a tight seal. And lastly, we cleared the mobile mini of all Women Build specific tools and equipment. Anything that we didn't need for the rest of this house got put in large bins that will be stored by a member of the steering committee while other tools still in use were moved inside the house. The mobile mini needs to be removed before the sidewalk gets installed - we don't have a date for this yet.
Tomorrow, Thursday (May 21st), we will continue installing base boards, add the remaining door hardware, build the cover box for the kitchen exhaust, install the toe kicks in the kitchen, paint the exterior sides of the front and side doors and caulk along the base boards plus fill nail holes as needed. There will not be a build on Saturday, May 23rd, due to Memorial Weekend. Both Thursday, May 21st and Saturday, May 30th are open on the hub.
Click on the link below to sign up and please encourage any of your friends that might be interested in signing up too:
https://alachuahabitat.volunteerhub.com/vv2/lp/womenbuild
You can also contact us with questions or for other information via our email: [email protected].

We had two workdays this past week and made great progress on the house. The installation of the kitchen cabinets and va...
05/13/2026

We had two workdays this past week and made great progress on the house. The installation of the kitchen cabinets and vanities has been successfully completed. The new laser level makes it so much easier to ensure that the cabinets going around the kitchen in a U-shape are all precisely the same height. We removed all the interior doors, including closet doors and painted them along all the edges before storing them in the two bathrooms (otherwise the flooring company would remove them and get them mixed up!). We installed most of the cabinet and drawer handles, installed all the wire shelving in the closets, including the linen closet in the hall and the utility room. All the blinds have been installed; we caulked and painted as needed and finally, we cleared the floors in all the rooms in preparation for the floor installation. The electricians have completed most of their work with the exception of a few outlets that still need cover plates. Installation of the flooring is scheduled to start on Monday, which means that we will be able to start installing baseboards brenext.
Thursday's lunch was once again provided by Sierra, who is also a Women Build volunteer. She selected a theme of afternoon tea, we had mint tea, cucumber and chicken salad finger sandwiches, salad, and zucchini bread. Yesterday's lunch was very generously provided by Nancy Hardt, Dana Nemenyi, Helen Gyllstrom and Prisila Shapiro from the Gainesville Rotary Club. Another delicious meal. Thanks so much to all of them.
Next week, we will paint and start installing baseboards and shutters, add door hardware, finish the cover box for the kitchen exhaust and install the range hood. The base boards is precision work and we estimate it to take three workdays. Note that Habitat is not building on May 23 - Memorial Weekend - instead we have scheduled a make-up day on Thursday, May 21st. Both Saturday, May 16th and Thursday, May 21st are open on the Hub. Click on the link below to sign up and please encourage any of your friends that might be interested in signing up
https://alachuahabitat.volunteerhub.com/vv2/lp/womenbuild
You can also contact us with questions or for other information via our email: [email protected].

Address

1022 NW Second Street
Gainesville, FL
32601

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