LAWRENCE — With one push, she drove the shovel into the ground and began digging a hole, while others poured concrete and then placed a pole to hold up the stairs to the building.
Rita Almanzar looked up and got a thumbs-up from Magnolia Spraus and the other women helping them.
Almanzar and Spraus were among 23 women from across the Merrimack Valley who rolled up their sleeves Saturday and helped construct decks, put up siding and pour sidewalks at four new homes on Market Street to replace those destroyed by a raging fire Jan. 21, 2008.
The women were volunteering their time, efforts and skills as part of Habitat for Humanity's National Women Build Week, which is held in cooperation with Lowe's.
Habitat for Humanity works with people in need to build and renovate affordable housing. The houses are then sold to needy families at no profit and with no interest.
Almanzar and Spraus had another reason for volunteering. They were selected by Habitat to have a chance to own their homes a month before the inferno destroyed an entire block of the South Lawrence neighborhood.
"When I heard about the fire, I thought, 'My dream is gone," said Almanzar, who will live at 386 Market St.
The four homes are rising from where ashes once lay. Working Thursdays and Saturdays, the volunteers are all from local religious congregations, colleges and businesses.
Habitat Executive Director Larry Sharpe said the women began working on the site in April after the city of Lawrence cleared the land.
This is the second year the Merrimack Valley Habitat for Humanity has participated in National Women Build Week. Last year, the group worked at a site on 12th Avenue in Haverhill.
"I wish we would do it more often," said site supervisor Susan Johnson of Haverhill. "It's good to give volunteers a chance to come in and not be intimidated. It makes for a great day of work."
A diverse group of volunteers
The women, using electric drills and a power saw - some for the first time, came from Andover, Lawrence, Haverhill, Newburyport and Salisbury. They work as psychology and nursing professors, a transportation consultant and a llama breeder.
This is the second year Carol Ann Dalto has volunteered during Women Build Week.
"What Habitat does is really great because it fills a void in the community," said Dalto of Plum Island, a psychology professor at Merrimack College in North Andover.
"Generally, it is important for women to feel comfortable around tools and knowing they can do things for themselves. This not only helps women make a contribution, but helps them develop skills."
Mary Ditty of Groveland has volunteered with Habitat for four or five years, and this is the second year she has participated in Women Build Week. Her daughter Andrea Ditty of Salisbury came along for the first time.
"I came back because I like building and being involved in the community," Mary Ditty said.
Kay O'Neil of Andover did not have any experience with power tools, but that did not stop her from coming to help.
Although she has already completed the required 360 volunteer hours, Almanzar has become a regular on the Saturday work crew.
"It's important to me to continue working on my house and to help others, just like other strangers have helped us," she said.
Spraus, who will become Almanzar's next-door neighbor at 384 Market St., agreed. She was touched by a group from California who rode across the country to help with Habitat projects, including Market Common.
"I figure if they took the time to help us, why can't I do the same for others?"
Several homes under construction
Habitat will build seven homes at the Market Street site. A duplex will be completed by this summer and six others are gradually being constructed. These include a home accessible to the handicapped, for which so far there are no applicants.
In addition to Almanzar and Spraus, Dillyam Sanchez and Hilda Gonzalez are volunteering to build and own their homes.
"It's great knowing that you'll have a place to call your own," Gonzalez said. "It means stability and the chance to leave a legacy for your children."
The women beamed with pride as they talked.
"It's almost like having a child, then seeing it take baby steps until it grows," Sanchez said. "Once you're in, you know each detail of the house because you helped in the construction."
No one knows that feeling better than Ruth Reyes, her husband, Felix, and their four children.
The Reyes family had been waiting three years for their home to be completed. Just a few days before they were to move in, the fire destroyed their home and some of their belongings.
On April 4, the Reyeses became the first family to move into Market Common.
"Sometimes, I touch the counter tops, open the dishwasher, and look out the window to see if I'm really here," said Ruth Reyes, a teacher's aide at Arlington School.
"Even today, I think it was all a bad dream, a nightmare," she said as she gave a tour of her new three-bedroom townhouse-style home.
On her kitchen's window sill, Reyes has a sprig from a hemlock tree that was damaged by the fire. Four employees from Valley Tree Service of Groveland removed the large tree and planted a flowering pear tree donated by Groundwork Lawrence.
