King Jewelers Inc.

Building a Habitat with women's touch

Brockton project relies on female volunteers

By Kathleen McKenna, Globe Correspondent  |  December 25, 2005

Andrea Enos and Valerie King have never met, but they have something in common. Both recently confronted a lifelong fear of heights. And both did so while working on a Brockton house that eventually will be home to Enos and her two sons.

''I'm getting over the height thing now, gradually," said Enos, who expects to move into the three-bedroom house on Walnut Street in June. ''I figured, 'Hey, I'm building my own home. This is as good a chance as any to finally get past this fear.' "

Her house is what the South Shore Habitat for Humanity organization calls a ''WomenBuild" project. Most of the people building it are women, with many of them working in a construction trade or for women-owned companies.

King's participation -- and her decision to face her ladder phobia -- came about indirectly. She and her sister, Vicki, own King Jewelers in Cohasset. Their store works with a Cohasset designer, Elizabeth Kissick, to create and sell jewelry that benefits various causes, such as breast cancer and autism research.

This fall, wanting to do something to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, Valerie King asked Kissick to come up with a bracelet that captured the spirit of home. She then met with Dana Langston, South Shore Habitat for Humanity's community development manager, to discuss promoting the bracelet, which features a house-shaped charm.

At the meeting, King said, she was taken with the Habitat for Humanity operation. ''I told Dana, 'I've always wanted to be involved in something like this,' " King said. ''And she said, 'Well, you can.' "

Langston told King to put together a crew of women and dive in; no construction experience was necessary.

So King asked employees, customers, and friends if they would give up a weekday to work on the house, and was stunned when almost everyone said yes. ''It was a busy week, the Monday before Thanksgiving," she said. ''But everybody couldn't wait to do it."

King and her friends learned a lot about what goes into building a house, and ''see it all come together like a giant puzzle," she said. ''These were big jobs we were doing, not simple stuff." In addition to working on the roof, the King Jewelers team framed closets and worked on staircases.

Enos, who works as a cosmetologist and spends her Saturdays at the construction site as part of her ''sweat equity" contribution (all Habitat families are required to chip in 500 hours of work), said she appreciates the King Jewelers crew's efforts on her future home.

''We couldn't believe all they accomplished in just one day," said Enos, a single parent to sons Adam, 10, and Erik, 3. She heard about Habitat from a friend after being laid off and she had to rent one room in a Brockton house for herself and the boys.

At the time, Habitat was looking for two Brockton families to put into houses on land that the city had donated. After filling out an application and going through several interviews, Enos was told she had been chosen.

''I started crying," she said about hearing the news. ''I was just getting back on my feet and didn't think I could own my own home for a long time."

For its second project, Habitat chose Brockton residents Claudia and Tony Miranda, whose house is going up nearby. ''It's great that I already know some neighbors," Enos said.

The Mirandas' house is a ''YouthBuild" project, which means that teenagers learning the construction trade are building the house from start to finish, for the experience and for school credit. They work during school hours, so Tony Miranda, who is available only on weekends, is fulfilling his work commitment by helping to build Enos's house instead.

His wife, who gave birth to the couple's fourth child a month ago, was given a maternity reprieve from her sweat equity requirement. But she remains involved in the process, and said she was thrilled that her family had been chosen by Habitat.

''It's so exciting," Claudia said. ''Owning our own home was just a dream to us, a dream that seemed impossible. Everyone told me it wouldn't happen."

Habitat chooses homeowners based on their income, their housing needs, and their willingness to work on the project, Langston said. In this case, applicants had to live and work in Brockton.

Part of Habitat for Humanity International, the local chapter worked for 10 years to break ground in Brockton; it succeeded because of the Brockton Interfaith Committee -- which Langston calls the ''driving force" behind the project -- and the city's Home Ownership Initiative, spearheaded by Mayor Jack Yunits.

The Braintree-based South Shore Habitat, which stretches from Walpole to Duxbury, wanted to make an impact in Brockton, she said, because the organization sees a ''real need for housing, and a real need for community renewal."

It established the Brockton Habitat Committee, which coordinates event planning, food donations for work days, and fund-raising for the local homes; it has raised about $75,000 toward the $125,000 needed to complete the Enos family's house.

By all accounts, Habitat volunteers enjoy their experiences and relish the sense of accomplishment and spirit of community they take from the site.

''It was hard work, nothing like going to the gym," said Scituate resident Jane May, 74, who worked on the King Jewelers team. ''But we had lots of fun, and got a lot done. I'd do it again, absolutely."

And King got the benefit of helping out and facing her fear of heights.

''I did things on that house I never thought I'd do," King said.