I know as a non-profit sometimes we get a little biased about our favorite volunteers, but I wanted to share with you one of my favorites, Ann Marie Purdy.
Ann Marie has been a Habitat volunteer since she was a student at SUNY Brockport. The South Wedge homeowner is part of our Women Build program and for the past three years has helped raise $75,000, along with other Rochester women, to build a house with a low-income family. She then (along with her Women Build teammates) comes out to BUILD the house – swinging a hammer, placing concrete, and even getting up on that roof to lay shingles. Ann Marie literally helps build neighborhoods in areas of our city that aren’t as strong and stable as the South Wedge but have the potential to be someday.
Ann Marie has done this alongside her mother, Donna Bour-Purdy, which is extra special; seeing a mother daughter team come out to support a family working to achieve the American Dream. Habitat families work 450 hours of sweat-equity as down payment and they pay a zero-interest mortgage on their home – fundraisers and volunteers like Ann Marie make those opportunities possible.
Ann Marie’s work with the Women Build program is inspiring, empowering other women to break the cycle of poverty by providing a “hand up, not a hand out” right here in Rochester one family, one home, one neighborhood at a time. She’s pretty darn awesome.
Deanna Varble
Flower City Habitat for Humanity
