Amy’s Make-A-Wish She Shed

HBA: Ames Home Builders Association

Category: HBA Operations

Location: Ames, Iowa

Size: Local Association: less than 200 members

Year: 2022

The Ames HBA (AHBA) partnered with Make-A-Wish Iowa to build a She Shed for a high school student with cancer, in Gilbert, Iowa. Stacy Woodward, Ames HBA EO; Joe Strotman, AHBA member and past president; and Danny Jones, AHBA member and building trades teacher led the project. Working together with the Make-A-Wish team and the students’ families, they were able to create a plan and execute it. Approximately 25 students had a hand in building this shed for their classmate.

HBA members donated all materials for the project, and Danny Jones incorporated the project into his Building Trades class curriculum for fall and spring semesters. Over $14,000 in materials were donated and the students did all the labor. The video was created by Make-A-Wish who also covered that cost with some in kind donations from the video company. This was a start-to-finish project that most of the students had not experienced before, and they were able to see all aspects of building a shed. In addition, the students saw the joy their classmate had when the shed was revealed.