Jeanne Tripplehorn and Julie Bowen were there, but what I mostly saw when I dropped by “Power Women, Power Tools” was a small sea of pink hard hats dilligently building houses.

“Power Women, Power Tools,” an annual Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles event coordinated by Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity, has apparently gotten so popular it’s now invitation-only. Over 100 women in entertainment — from the phone-answering intern to the famous (Jeanne Tripplehorn, right) — showed up to get 14 Vermont Avenue Town Homes started at Vermont and 112th in South LA.

At the end of the build day, 20 families were given the good news that they were getting new homes (some of the homes are on other sites).

(Julie Bowen, farthest to the left) These homes, by the way, have incorporated some green components, from the easy stuff like CFL bulbs, insulation, and energy star appliances to the more substancial like recycled building materials, runoff water filtration, and green irrigation for native plants and trees. It’s a far cry from the scary 100% vinyl Habitat for Humanity homes shown in Blue Vinyl, a great documentary that reveals the environmental and health dangers of vinyl.

The Vermont Avenue site’s one of the build sites for this year’s Jimmy Carter Work Project, an annual event where Carter and his wife join volunteers to help build Habitat for Humanity homes.

Even if you’re not in the entertainment industry, you can still put your powerful building muscles to use with the Jimmy Carter Work Project 2007, happening in San Pedro & South LA from Oct. 28 -Nov. 2, 2007. If you can’t help out, you might do your own shopping at the Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Store in Gardena, Calif. — It sells both donated and recycled items, with all revenues towards going to new homes.

Those outside the greater LA area: Find out what projects are near you :)

[all images courtesy of the nice PR people for Habitat for Humanity; my camera ran out of batteries; crossposted on BlogHer]

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