So, I remember being a young mission worker out in the field, trying to lead a group of volunteers. Typically the women and teenagers were pretty willing to listen to a woman, probably because they didn’t know too much about construction and were willing to trust whoever was in charge. Men tended to be more challenging to lead. All of us girls knew that. Before a man was likely to follow our lead, we had to prove ourselves to him. You had to be sure of yourself. Confident in what you were doing. Able to communicate the plan clearly. I always felt like I had accomplished something when I could look at a group of men, tell them what we were going to do and have them follow my lead.

Now I work in the office and I’m not so young anymore. My challenges are different, but the experience and confidence I gained in the field help me every day with the work that I do writing foundation proposals. Not too long ago I needed to meet with our Executive Director. I went down to our warehouse where he, the field workers, and a volunteer were loading a truck for a blitz build. A pile of 2×6’s needed to get on that truck. Literally thinking nothing of it, I jumped in and helped load the truck. Later the volunteer, a great man, came up to me. He was so impressed that I was moving lumber. I’m still not really sure why – everyone else loading with him other than our Executive Director was a woman. Maybe it was my title, Financial Steward. At Hosanna, though, people are so much more than what others expect. Our titles don’t limit what we do. Our gender doesn’t either. God uses people young and old, male and female, black and white to move mountains through Hosanna Industries. People all across Southwestern Pennsylvania (more than 2800 households in fact) are living with more safety and security, more dignity, more peace and hope because of all the people who work with their hammers, hearts and hands at Hosanna Industries.

Julie Wettach, Financial Steward