This May, our volunteer spotlight is on Tracy Ingersoll. Tracy, Women Builder and Homebuyer Mentor, shares her insight and experience as a volunteer for Greater Indy Habitat.
Tracy (Pictured Left) & Jamie at Women Build Fundraising Event
The Women Build program was established to encourage the involvement of women in the construction of Habitat homes. What advice would you give to women who might be apprehensive about volunteering on the build site because of a lack of construction experience?
It’s not as hard as it looks. Habitat staff and the Tigers will teach you everything you need to know. It’s a great first opportunity to get an inside look to Habitat. It’s great for team building and you always learn something.
Peer to peer fundraising among teams is the name of the game for the Women Build. Your team “The Naptown Rollers” has raised over $17,000 dollars, congratulations! This surpasses your 2019 team goal of $15,000 and the all-time highest fundraising amount of $11,400 from any team! What would you say has been your team’s most successful fundraising tactic?
Even though my sister (Jamie Gauker) and I are the team leaders, it is because of our whole team’s efforts that we’ve accomplished what we have so far. Our goal was to make sure our team members and those they were reaching knew the why behind the homebuyer’s story as well as the why of the Habitat mission. As people told us they were interested in joining our team, we made sure that people knew participation in the Women’s Build was twofold: fundraising and building. This is essentially a fundraising competition! My sister and I are really competitive so we encouraged our team to find out if their company did a dollar match – either for their time or dollars, to heavily use social media and to thank people. My team has done a phenomenal job and I’m thankful for them!
Tracy and the Naptown Rollers 2019 Women Build Team with homebuyer Daisy
If people are interested in leading or joining a team for the 2020 Women build, what advice would you give them?
Think bigger! People are willing to spend the money when it’s a good cause, so don’t be afraid to ask. JUST ASK! If you are leading a team, encourage a “price for admission” to be a part of a team. Set the bar high. Also, get fresh faces on your team. If you have the same people year after year, they might end up exhausting their network for fundraising.
You’re also a volunteer with our Habitat Mentor program! What has been the coolest part of this 1 on 1 volunteer experience so far?
I’ve learned a lot about the Habitat homeownership program and the big time commitment it takes for homebuyers to knock out 300 hours of sweat equity (while having kids and a job mind you!) and earn the keys. The homebuyer I’m mentoring doesn’t really need me. She’s sharp and is well on her way. I’m just here for when she does need someone. Even if it is just one piece of helpful advice she borrows from me, it makes this experience with her worth it. I’m making a friend and getting to be there for her as she becomes a homeowner for the first time. It’s great!
What is one word you would use to describe your volunteer experience with Greater Indy Habitat?
Fulfilling.
Thank you Tracy for everything you do to further the Habitat mission here in Greater Indy! To learn more about the Women Build and how you can join Tracy out on the build site, click here. Or, to join Tracy as a homebuyer mentor, click here.
