Shelley's Notepad/personal blog of Shelley Carroll

Archive for the ‘A Day in the Life of’ Category

April 16th, 2009 – Building a House!

April 16th, 2009
Today I had my first day of home building on a Habitat For Humanity
construction site. I was joined by executive assistant Jennifer Daws from my office and Angela Kinnear, from Councillor Vaughan’s team. LastAugust, the Ward 33 Team arranged a Golf Tournament to raise funds forthe first Habitat For Humanity ‘Women Build’. These H4H homes are beingconstructed out in Scarborough East, near Lawrence Ave and Kingston Rd.

Jen, Ange and I wanted to experience the famous Habitat For Humanity affordable home ownership program the way most folks do – by lending ahand to actually build the homes. 

We arrived, three very keen women, but also volunteers who have never swung a hammer all day long. Not a problem for Habitat. They have decades of experience in making good use of your donated time and enthusiasm. We left the site at the end of the day with a sense of accomplishment that is hard to describe. I jumped into a bath as soon as I got home, exhausted but exhilarated all at the same time.

 There were two companies that sent teams of employees for the day. If you have ever paid a consultant a small fortune to do team building exercises with your staff, you should know there is a FREE alternative.

Working with a crew chief, your team spends a day building, assisting, trusting and caring for one another. Better yet, lunch is provided. Volunteers who arrive alone or in groups of two are integrated with the teams and a great time is had by all.

 As part of our City of Toronto goal to build 1000 affordable housing alternative units a year, there are likely to be Habitat For Humanity opportunities every summer. We have posted a photo gallery of our day in the media section. To find out more about H4H or to volunteer for a build check out their website at http://www.torontohabitat.on.ca.