MAUMEE, Ohio — For the first time, WTOL 11 is teaming up with Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity for a Women Build to help Lisa Wittenberg get stable housing.
Women Build Week is recognized across the country as a time for women to learn construction skills and help a family realize their new home.
Wittenberg is a mother and grandmother, with two children and two grandchildren. She is also a survivor of domestic violence.
On Aug. 27, 2018, Wittenberg said she "was stabbed twelve times, two collapsed lungs and by the grace of god I'm still here."
Since then, she said she is thankful for every day and now wants stability in her life, including a home she can call her own.
"Home means to me: love and the people who are in it to share it with you," she said.
The land her home will sit on is currently still an empty lot, but it will be turned into a house, starting on Sept. 27 with the kickoff to Women Build Week and a blessing of the house.
Wittenberg herself will be joining the build and has already got to work on other homes. And in a few months, she can buy the house at fair market value.
"Families put in 250 hours of sweat equity, volunteer hours, working on their own homes, helping other families achieve their goals of home ownership," Michael McIntyre, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity Maumee Valley, said.
Wittenberg said she has learned a lot working with McIntyre and others in Habitat for Humanity.
"It's really embracing others in our community, lifting them up, learning new skills, advocating for affordable housing and it's always our most energetic build that we have, so women rock in Toledo and they rock on women build," McIntyre said.