Florida Gulf Coast University’s softball team joined with Habitat for Humanity for a wall-raising event on Women’s Equality Day on Aug. 26. The construction project not only brought a local mother’s new home one step closer to completion, but it also provided the team with a bonding opportunity and a hands-on glimpse into the skilled trades.
The participating softball players wrote well wishes to the Habitat for Humanity recipient on the wood-framed walls. According to Eagle Media, the home in progress is one of 68 that the local Cape Coral Habitat for Humanity plans to build by the end of the year.
Caridad Estes is one of the FGCU softball players that went out to Cape Coral to volunteer, joining the all-female crew.
“We do this every year as a softball team,” Estes said. “Volunteering is really big for our team and our culture. Our coach really instills it into us what it means to be an FGCU student, and what it means to be sustainable.”
“You know, construction is a male dominated industry. That’s just the truth,” [Cece] Schepp said. “FGCU softball team come out here, show that, that they can do everything. They really are a great example of kind of digging in getting their hands dirty and lifting others up in the community, which is really cool.”
Estes believes it’s all worth it to be “power women” with power tools and to there for someone in need.
Advertisement
Related Stories
Market Data + Trends
Data Show New-Home Construction Starts Slowed at the End of 2023
Despite falling mortgage rates and a continuing shortage of housing inventory, the annual pace of new-home construction slowed in December
Housing Markets
Top 10 Metros for New Homes in 2024
Punta Gorda, Fla., and Myrtle Beach, S.C., top the list of places where new-home construction is booming
New-Construction Projects
US Housing Starts See Unexpected Surge in November
Census Bureau data show new-home construction was up 14.8% in November, suggesting the housing crunch may be easing