Habitat for Humanity

Well my husband and I volunteered yesterday. My husband's job offers paid days to those who want to volunteer for certain charities once a year. Otherwise you just don't get paid for it. And he had a list of different charities to choose from. Habitat for Humanity was on the list. And I have always wanted to do it. And since I have been on this kick of learning about ecofriendly ways of building it just seemed to fit.

So we show up with a few other people from his company. We didn't know any of them, but that didn't matter. So were all split up into different teams to work on different projects. My husband and I and a couple of other people from his work were chosen to lay subfloor for this one building. So we got to work. We of course were making mistakes from the beginning since none of us had ever built a house before. We started on the wrong side of the building and used the wrong nails. So we had cut some pieces of plywood later to make sure everthing would fit properly. And then we had to use more nails of a different kind so the floor wouldn't creak in the future. But all in all we had a good time.

They even provided lunch for us. And it was a pretty good spread. They offered sandwiches, chips, soda, water, cookies and all kinds of bread and condiments. So everyone was pretty much happy with what they had. Plus at that point we were all starving from working so hard.

We got to know some of the future homeowners that were putting in their volunteer hours (sweat equity). A single person has to put in 350 hours and can get 150 of those hours donated by different people. So we agreed to donate the hours we put in. I talked to the person that coordinated everyone from my husband's work, and she agreed to donate everyone's hours from there as well. So for all 12 of us, the homeowner got 96 hours donated for one day.

After lunch I wasn't needed anymore on the flooring for that house, so I was put on a new team. I was to help dig a ditch to pour more concrete for a driveway. The ground was dry and difficult to dig and very rocky. By this time it was getting extremely hot outside. And I don't do well in heat. I am very pale and burn easily. I was dressed for the occasion with a hat and jeans and a short sleeve shirt. But for some reason I wasn't doing so well. So I ended up with heat exhaustion. But I ended up being ok. I just sat down for a bit in the shade and drank a ton of water and poured it all over me.

By the end of the day I was dirty, sore, had blisters all over my feet and hands. But I loved it. I just need to get into better shape and wear different shoes when I go next time. And of course take a lot more water with me, or only volunteer when the weather is cooler.