While the cicadas were chorusing outside in the trees, Team COMSO was making noise inside a home in Landover, MD. Our noise was the sound of drills, jackhammer-drills, saws, and hammers. On May 26th and June 2nd, COMSO employees volunteered for Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build Program. Habitat for Humanity builds affordable homes around the world in partnership with families in need of a decent place to live. Habitat homebuyers help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Habitat also helps older adults, in partnership with their families, communities, and local organizations, improve their homes and their quality of life so they can flourish where they live. Habitat’s neighborhood revitalization work focuses on lifting up and bringing lasting change to communities by working with local partners to implement solutions as unique as the neighborhoods themselves.
The Women Build program provides the opportunity for women to learn how to build and construct a home while supporting their communities. Volunteers (men are welcome, too) work under the guidance of construction professionals and alongside other volunteers and future Habitat homeowners. COMSO sponsored two Women Build teams. On May 26th, Jacqui Magnes, Tracey Michael, Riley Howard, Cydney Howard, and a friend scraped up the flooring on a 90-degree day. Then on June 2nd, Lisa Goodman, Joe Flynn, Nick Harriday, Evon Glover, and Cheryl Spring wielded their hammers inside and outside the house to the rhythm of the cicadas. Once the house is completed, COMSO and all other volunteer workers will be invited to a ribbon cutting ceremony to welcome the homeowner to their new home.
