Coaches' wives help build Habitat house

A Habitat for Humanity trailer is parked in front of the soon-to-be finished house where workers unload the supplies they will need for that day. Six women crowd around the front door listening to the instructions for the day.

Wednesday was a Habitat for Humanity Women's Build day, and six of the Alabama coaches' wives, including Terry Saban, were on the site of the almost completed Habitat for Humanity house.

"It's a great way for us to come together and do something for the community," Saban said. "It's a great feeling of accomplishment when we can come together and combine the social aspect with work, and also accomplish something great."

Saban said this was not the first event that the coaches' wives have participated in together; they once knitted hats for premature babies at a local hospital.

Susan Bishop, development director for Habitat for Humanity of Tuscaloosa, has been involved with Habitat for Humanity for three years. She said Tuscaloosa's Habitat for Humanity started Women's Build days three years ago.

"We had an overwhelming response from the community when we decided to have days when women come out and work on the site," Bishop said.

Today, Bishop said, the women will be working on the trim in the house and putting in the doors.

"All we really have left is to do to finish the house is the flooring, lighting, trim and some landscaping," Bishop said. "We should be done with the house by the end of April."

Saban said she thinks it is important for women to feel like they can get out of the house and make a difference.

"Women's Build days let women chip in and work together to make a difference," Saban said.

Saban said she chose to work with Habitat for Humanity for two reasons.

Education was first, she said, because she supports the Hope scholarship and wants to see the standard of education rise, she said.

Her second reason was that everyone deserves a safe and loving place in which to live, she said.

"Habitat for Humanity offers an environment where volunteers and the homeowners can come together and work side by side," Saban said. "The home-owner can learn how to take care of the house and how to maintain it."

Saban started working with Habitat for Humanity when she was in Florida when her husband, Crimson Tide football head coach Nick Saban, was head coach of the Miami Dolphins.

"I started getting involved when one of the big hurricanes came through," Saban said.

When this house finishes, the Tuscaloosa Habitat for Humanity will start building another house this fall.

Bishop said students who want to get involved with Habitat for Humanity in Tuscaloosa should e-mail her at sbishop@hfhtuscaloosa.org.

Saban said she and the other coaches' wives will continue to be involved. But she said she is not sure if their husbands will have enough time for a coach's build day.

"They already have a 'honey do' list at home," Saban said. "I'm sure they would love to do it, but they have no time between work and traveling. When they are home, the wives are having them repair whatever needs to be fixed at our houses."