Habitat for Humanity: my experience

We received an email from the London & District Construction Association asking for volunteers to join the Women Build fall project for Habitat for Humanity in London, Ontario. Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build program promotes the involvement of women in the construction of a home. I had always wanted to volunteer for a Habitat project and felt this was the perfect opportunity, so I signed up right away. 

My day on site was early in the build and happened to be one of the coldest days in November. There were about 10 of us volunteering that day, with three professionals guiding us.  We took down scaffolding and then shovelled dirt for backfill at the back of the site. (There wasn’t any room to use mechanical equipment there.) It was cold, but as long as we kept moving we were warm.  A volunteer supplied us with a delicious chili for lunch, and it was nice to have hot food on a cold day.

As the afternoon wore on, it began to snow harder, so by 2:30 p.m. the foreman had us clean up and call it a day. I was sore the next day—definitely a big change from my desk job detailing reinforcing steel—but I would like to volunteer again. The women I worked with were great, and it’s such a worthwhile cause.  I was really happy to hear the family has moved in and their daughter is overjoyed to have a “home.”