Olympian Julie Foudy returns to Oakland to build affordable housing
July 31 (Oakland) -- As the world turns its attention to the upcoming Olympic Games, former captain of the US Women’s Soccer Team and Olympic gold medalist Julie Foudy returned to Oakland to help build affordable homes for deserving, low-income East Bay families.
For the second consecutive summer, Foudy brought 20 girls, enrolled in her Sports Leadership Academy, to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity East Bay during a special Women Build event at the Edes Avenue development in Oakland.
Over 150 girls, aged 12 through 18 and representing ten U.S. States, attended Foudy’s Sports Leadership Academy, held at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. Many of the girls live and attend school in the Bay Area. The Academy’s curriculum consists of leadership on the sports field, in the school, and in the community. As part of the community leadership curriculum, the girls will contribute service to nine East Bay non-profit organizations.
This year, Habitat for Humanity East Bay is celebrating its 20th anniversary, the completion of its 200th home, and the start of a campaign to build the next 200 homes in just five years. Lowe’s, the national underwriter of the Habitat for Humanity Women Build program, will help launch that campaign by sponsoring a home at the 54-home Edes Avenue development in Oakland. The home will be built almost entirely by women volunteers. The Women Build program brings women from all walks of life together to learn construction skills and then use those skills to be part of the solution to poverty housing. Lowe’s previously sponsored a Women Build home in Livermore in 2005 at the 22-home Freeda Court development.
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