Habitat for Humanity Society of Greater Vancouver
September 2005
The Blueprint
With a little help from our friends…. At the beginning of the summer Habitat Greater Vancouver made a lot of new friends with the arrival of thirteen campers, a counselor and a camp director and his family from the American Jewish Society for Service, who traveled from New York to work on building the homes in Phase 3. We are thankful they chose to come here and we will be eternally grateful for the experience of working with them. Their contribution of over 3,000 hours (spanning five days a week for six weeks) made a huge impact on the build and obviously made a great impact on them. Paul & Cathy Milkman, the AJSS Camp Directors wrote about their experience at the Government Street site in Burnaby this summer:
As we have seen in the United States, Habitat for Humanity often helps to meet the challenge of making decent housing available to those who could not find it otherwise ...our kind, patient and skilled work supervisor, Terry Probert, the bevy of Habitat regulars, some retired, who find meaning in giving their labor and who delighted in giving our group additional leadership. This group included among others these men who earned our gratitude and respect: Colin Gour, Michael MacNeill, Marvin Wingett, Wayne Stewart, and Lutz Holfield. ...we worked alongside members of three Habitat families. One volunteer came to the site at least three days a week, often bringing with her freshbaked cookies, and we heard of the sardine-like living conditions her Habitat home would free her of….to Anneke, to Terry and the Habitat volunteers we owe more than we can say. We have had a spectacular summer in a glorious city. We’re delighted to have made it more of a home for four families who will spend 2006 in housing made in part by our effort. Shalom!
Volunteers from the American Jewish Society for Service Frazer, Dan A, Jake, Jeff, Anna, Dan B, Chelsey, David Rebecca, Elana, Sara, Andrew, Noah, Caleb
The productivity of the summer is clearly demonstrated in our progress; the four townhouses that we were building started at the foundation stage and by the time we leave, the second floor walls will be in place. (Anna : Camp Counselor) It was also a great inspiration working alongside the people who would be living in the house and seeing their dedication and determination to earn their house and working 500 hours. (Dan A) ...it’s difficult not to grow and I feel I have. I’ve had a good time and when I go home, I intend to bring some of my AJSS experience with me. (Caleb) I really felt good about helping families that really needed homes, but that wasn’t what got me up at 7 each morning. After just the first day on the worksite, I realized how much I loved construction work. By the end of the summer I was having so much fun working with the construction workers and trying to figure out problems that we encountered. This was the first time I had done real construction work and I definitely want to do it again. (Noah) (cont’d page 2)