Last weekend, I went to Newark to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity. The commute there was really blurry at 6 AM. I took the subway to the PATH to the bus. It really was quite a hike. Once I got there, I watched a brief safety video and debriefed about the do's and don'ts... like don't wear sneakers. Of course I wore sneakers. Luckily, they had a pair of oversized boots for me to borrow.
I felt as though I was in a foreign country. We were told never walk between the sites alone. Once the people in the neighborhood get to know us, then you can start walking around on your own. Walk in groups with a minimum of 2 people. Don't bring your wallet. Put a $5 in your pocket before going to the store. I made it there and back to the Middle East unharmed and now I might not make it out of Newark alive? Jeez. How ironic. Maybe this is related to the fact that people get into car accidents when they are close to home.
What did we do? First we started by discarding extra pieces of drywall into a dump box (?). Then we brought the extra wood to another site being built. Next we all got to use power tools!! We used the power screwdriver to tick (?) the screws. The screws were all in the drywall securing it to the posts, but our job was to make sure the screws were below the surface. If the screw missed the post, we had to take it out and re-screw it. It was laborious and frustrating work. I either didn't have enough strength to screw the screw in or couldn't find the post. After lunch, luckily we were able to do something else. We changed occupations and became electricians. Don't worry, there was no electricity running through the house. We installed outlets. We learned the difference between 12 and 14 gauge wires, and we learned to indentify which is the ground wire. I was much better at this so naturally it was fun.
We had a nice group of people. I've been volunteering a lot these days and I've found that you generally meet nice people. I have yet to meet a jerk on an assignment. The people for Habitat were really chatty and friendly. I didn't have time to get lunch ready so I brought a Dunkin' breakfast sandwich. One guy felt bad for my super unhealthy lunch that he gave me a yogurt.
Habitat is a great organization. They careful choose who will receive a house. The recipient must put in at least 400 hours of sweat time. Joy, who will receive one of the houses we worked on, has worked more than 400 hours. She intends to keep coming until her hours is done. She will be moving in with her two sons. It feels good knowing that work that you do is helping someone. It's definitely more gratifying than producing a headcount or a turnover report.
I felt as though I was in a foreign country. We were told never walk between the sites alone. Once the people in the neighborhood get to know us, then you can start walking around on your own. Walk in groups with a minimum of 2 people. Don't bring your wallet. Put a $5 in your pocket before going to the store. I made it there and back to the Middle East unharmed and now I might not make it out of Newark alive? Jeez. How ironic. Maybe this is related to the fact that people get into car accidents when they are close to home.
What did we do? First we started by discarding extra pieces of drywall into a dump box (?). Then we brought the extra wood to another site being built. Next we all got to use power tools!! We used the power screwdriver to tick (?) the screws. The screws were all in the drywall securing it to the posts, but our job was to make sure the screws were below the surface. If the screw missed the post, we had to take it out and re-screw it. It was laborious and frustrating work. I either didn't have enough strength to screw the screw in or couldn't find the post. After lunch, luckily we were able to do something else. We changed occupations and became electricians. Don't worry, there was no electricity running through the house. We installed outlets. We learned the difference between 12 and 14 gauge wires, and we learned to indentify which is the ground wire. I was much better at this so naturally it was fun.
We had a nice group of people. I've been volunteering a lot these days and I've found that you generally meet nice people. I have yet to meet a jerk on an assignment. The people for Habitat were really chatty and friendly. I didn't have time to get lunch ready so I brought a Dunkin' breakfast sandwich. One guy felt bad for my super unhealthy lunch that he gave me a yogurt.
Habitat is a great organization. They careful choose who will receive a house. The recipient must put in at least 400 hours of sweat time. Joy, who will receive one of the houses we worked on, has worked more than 400 hours. She intends to keep coming until her hours is done. She will be moving in with her two sons. It feels good knowing that work that you do is helping someone. It's definitely more gratifying than producing a headcount or a turnover report.
makes for some serious warm and fuzzy don't it? :)
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