WHEN VOLUNTEERS SHOW UP to
build a Habitat house, they often find themselves being assigned to jobs they’ve never done before. Still, with the proper training and supervision, they’re almost always capable of rising to the challenge and making a significant and meaningful contribution to providing another family a decent home. And sometimes in the process stereotypes are broken and we learn from one another.
On the second day of a six-day blitz in 1993, during which we built 20 houses, I was roofing with Bunny Church and her friend, Stuart Phillips, it was a hot, steamy day,
and we had just half a day to start and finish shingling a roof, so we set to the task energetically and with great focus. After a couple of hours of hard labor up on that roof, the temperature rising all the while we were working, we were tired, dirty, and thirsty. Suddenly, Stuart stopped our roofing production line, sighing, Tm sorry, but I just have to put on some lipstick. Lipstick always makes me feel better.” She excused herself, climbed down the ladder to the ground, pulled her lipstick out of her pocket, then went to the Porta Potti. A moment later, Stuart emerged, still dirty and dusty, but also smiling and radiant, her lips
perfectly covered with pink lipstick.
It did help!
Despite being something of a tomboy, I appreciated the lesson Stuart had unintentionally taught me—that it’s okay to assert your feminity on the job. And that’s one of the wonderful things about Habitat— everyone is welcome. How many roofers wear lipstick? If your heart is open, the diversity you encounter while working on a Habitat house just might enrich your life. And remember: Lipstick can make you feel better!
-By Anna G. Carter
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