On Saturday, June 26, I was invited to attend the house dedications for the Nguyen and Wiggins families with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Lowell. This was such an honor for me as I worked on the Wiggins family home in February as well as in May. In February, I got together with Miss Massachusetts Teen USA, Brooke Bibeault, Miss Massachusetts USA, Lacey Wilson, and Miss Connecticut USA, Ashley Bickford to work on this house and we all met for the first time ever. As we arrived, we were all presented with Hot Pink Hard Hats that had Crowns attached to them. It was such a nice gesture and something that will forever stay in my life as a trophy of this experience during my reign as Mrs. Massachusetts International 2010. It was so incredibly cold that day, but Brooke, Lacey, and myself were put to work to dig the master sewer trench in the basement. This was no easy task as the ground was almost frozen solid. With a little assistance from a Jack Hammer, we were able to break through the ground and rock and dig about an 8 foot long by 1 foot deep trench. It was an amazing experience considering I have never done such a thing, and to see three beauty queens put there muscles to some hard work was awesome. We definitely changed the perception of beauty queens that day! In May I came back during the Women's Build Week with a few of my co-workers. That day I learned to use a few different table saws as well as a nail gun. I was taught how to measure out pieces of hardwood floor to put down, cut them down to measurement, and then install. I also nailed down the baseboards. The room that I worked on that day was for Dimitrius Wiggins who is the young gentleman that has Cerebral Palsy, and this home needed to be designed with handicap accessibility. On the Saturday Dedication, I was finally able to meet Alexis and Dimitrius. I had heard so much about them from their mom Debra. Debra is herself an amazing woman and so deserving of this home, Bbing a single mom and raising three amazing kids, she's worked so hard. She also understands the dynamic of the Habitat for Humanity program and giving back to an organization that has helped her family. She was given the opportunity to choose a home anywhere in the world to have Habitat for Humanity help another family. Not only did she raise funds for this effort, but she chose a family in Bulgaria who she felt a connection with as one of the children also has Cerebral Palsy, and knowing how Habitat has helped her and Dimitrius, she wanted to give back to a family that would have the same type of help.
I cannot wait to get back from Chicago as my next task at hand will be to go shopping with little Alexis and pick out the perfect yellow color paint for her walls, and I am going to help her paint her room. She did mention that Micky Mouse is her favorite character, so I am thinking there will have to be a little Micky to keep her company. Dimitrius mentioned that his favorite colors are blue and red, and his favorite character is Spiderman, so I think I will have to come up with something creative for his room as well!
Congratulations to such a deserving family, and thank you to everyone at Habitat for Humanity of Greater Lowell who make dreams become a reality. Thank you to Kim Trainor for welcoming me into the Habitat Family and I can't wait to work on the next home, which I hear is going to be built by women only, and I have been asked to be a part of that planning committee!
No comments:
Post a Comment