Habitat for Humanity, 4200 Kingston Rd.

April 20th
This was my first day as a crew leader. My big presentation came in the morning behind the first block of houses. It was very informal, and had no frills or big announcement. To me, recognition is more important than anything else. I don’t like big “to-dos”. So it was one of the best moments at Habitat by far; Bruce gave me an orange shirt with my assignment that day.

My big assignment? Wait for it ... taking nails out of wood and digging two 6’ holes (they weren't planning to bury, anyone, were they?) BUT it was with the York University Alumni group and I am a Alumna, so that made it all better!

For my first crew ever, I lead about 7 volunteers through these tasks. The first, as I mentioned, was to take apart the railings out behind the first block, and sort the wood into the wood that can be kept, and the wood that would go to wood recycling later. My second task to manage was to dig two holes to try to determine which unit had the broken water pipe in front of it. Although we tried to rotate the job of digging throughout the day, I must give credit where credit is due, in that James Allen and Paul carried out most of the work in getting these 6’ deep holes dug. I can also sincerely say that my whole crew enjoyed their day, as did I. There were a lot of laughs, we were very productive, and we all had the fascinating experience of digging a hole (something I have never done before, and despite its reputation, thoroughly enjoyed) and taking nails out of wood. The thing is, the project was genuinely fun, and the team dynamic made it that way. It was also buoyed by the York University connection we all shared.