Habitat for Humanity Women Build Campaign Empowers Volunteers, Funds Affordable Homes

Three competing fundraising teams collectively raised more than $100,000 during Habitat for Humanity Seminole-Apopka's 2026 Women Build campaign, surpassing the program's $4,000-per-team minimum by a wide margin and accelerating the path to breaking ground on affordable homes in Seminole County.

The campaign ran through March, pairing competitive fundraising with on-site volunteer build days during International Women's Month. Corporate teams from local engineering and construction firms, including FINFROCK and HNTB, contributed both funding and volunteer labor, representing the kind of cross-sector partnership the chapter has been working to cultivate.

Penny Seater, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Seminole-Apopka, framed the program's ambitions beyond the balance sheet. "Women Build is about more than construction, it's about empowering people to come together and make a lasting difference for families in our community," Seater said.

Teams that hit their fundraising threshold earned the opportunity to join on-site build days, giving corporate volunteers and civic groups direct, hands-on involvement in home construction. That connection between dollars raised and shovel-in-hand participation was central to the campaign's design, tying financial contributions to visible, measurable community impact.

The capital raised shortens construction timelines and reduces mortgage burdens for Habitat's partner families, who access permanently affordable homeownership through the organization's model of donated funds and sweat equity. Seminole County, like much of Central Florida, faces a persistent shortage of affordable housing stock, making each dollar raised and each volunteer hour logged a direct counterweight to that gap.

Habitat for Humanity Seminole-Apopka will hold its Habitat Achievement Awards on April 24 to publicly recognize the campaign's top contributors and volunteer teams, closing out a Women Build cycle that turned corporate conference rooms into construction sites and put more than $100,000 toward homes that will remain affordable for the long term.