Almost 600 miles separates Roanoke, Va., from Fort Wayne, Ind., but for female employees of American Electric Power that volunteer with Habitat for Humanity, the two communities might as well have been next door.

In Roanoke, a team from Women International Network of Utility Professionals (WINUP), that included Appalachian Power employees and an AEP contractor, helped Habitat for Humanity upgrade a Roanoke, Va. woman's home. 

The team built a handicap access ramp from the driveway to the backdoor and also dug and framed a walkway from the front of the home to the street, tackling a five-foot drop in elevation to finish the project. The homeowner (far left in the top photo on this page) hopes to move into her home next month.

In Fort Wayne, nine members of the Indiana and Michigan Power family participated in Greater Fort Wayne Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build project, volunteering to help build two homes.

Team members performed various tasks, including working on a front porch, preparing exterior walls for siding and hanging siding, installing hurricane clips, removing bottom framing on doors and closets with a reciprocating saw, planting bushes and mulching.  

Habitat’s goal is to eliminate substandard housing. To qualify for a Habitat home, families take personal finance classes and contribute “sweat equity” by volunteering at the organization’s ReStore and helping build Habitat homes, including their own. The process takes about three years, and as home-buyers, they make interest-free mortgage payments.