VENTURA COUNTY — On Saturday, Nov. 7, about 150 volunteers and sponsors joined Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County at Bank of America’s Westlake Village campus to build 14 custom children’s playhouses at the fifth annual Playhouse Build Blitz. Each playhouse was designed around the interests of a local military family, and all 14 families arrived that afternoon to receive their finished playhouses. The event raised $45,000 for Habitat Ventura’s new construction and home repair programs.
Volunteer teams spent the day building, painting and decorating alongside Habitat Ventura staff and volunteer build leaders, who guided first-time volunteers through each step. Teams were matched with their families several weeks in advance and designed each playhouse around the children’s favorite things. Themes included friendly dinosaurs, under-the-sea scenes with sharks and sea turtles, farm animals, woodland creatures, jungle animals and a fantasy world of princesses, unicorns and fairies, along with gardens filled with butterflies, sunflowers and tulips. When the families arrived that afternoon, volunteers had the chance to meet them and present the playhouses, which were given at no cost. For many of the children, the playhouse was a complete surprise.
