On Saturday, a group of about 30 female volunteers met on Spring Street on a cloudy spring morning to work on building a house for a family in need through the Williamson County Habitat for Humanity program. Debbie Hoffman, executive director of Habitat and Round Rock resident, led the group along with a host of "regular" volunteers. Most of the women were from State Farm Insurance, Hardtails Restaurant in Georgetown and Lowe's. Also, all three female county commissioners participated in the event: me, Commissioner Cynthia Long and Commissioner Valerie Covey.
The slab of the house, which will be owned by Desalgne Woldegabriel and Awato Zewdue who emigrated to the United States from Ethiopia with their five children, was completed prior to Saturday. The trusses had been built and were stacked around the slab. Each truss was numbered and labeled to ensure proper placement. In a short amount of time, the house began to take shape as the volunteers placed the trusses and secured them.
Williamson County has long supported Habitat for Humanity through our Community Block Development Grant program, which helps with housing for those in need. The neat thing about Habitat is that it is a "hand up" not a "hand out." in that the folks receiving the homes are required to put their own time into the project. So, yesterday, Mr. Woldegabriel was there, building the house alongside the rest of us. The four bedroom, approximately 1300 square foot home with a detached garage should be complete within 60 to 90 days and I hope to be there for the ribbon cutting ceremony.
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