I hope I never lose my day job at Global News because I made for a pretty lousy home builder.
I had the pleasure of being part of the Global News team that is working with Habitat for Humanity to build a home for a family of fourteen.
Yes, you read that correctly – the home is for a mom, dad and their twelve children.
Adding on to the difficulties of raising such a large family, five of the children have autism and one survived a bout with leukemia.
The family is struggling to live comfortably in their current 1,000 square foot home.
Thanks to the volunteers with Habitat for Humanity, they will soon move into a house three times as large. Their new house is situated at Runnymede and St Clair, and is approximately 3,200 square feet.
We spent the day drilling, hammering, and sawing away to slowly build the eight-bedroom home.
But hammering was pretty tricky.
Carey Marsden and I had a friendly face off – we wanted to see who could put a nail into a wooden frame in as few hits as possible.
It took Carey 29 tries. As for me? It took 20, then another 10 before I lost count. Let’s just say it was a lot more than 30 strikes.
In comparison, site supervisor Paul Cowell nailed it (pun intended) in three hits – his best is one.
It felt great being able to help build a house from scratch, even though construction work is not my forte. I kept thinking about the family of fourteen and how this home will change their lives. I kept picturing their reaction once they move in to the home in August.
I’d do it again in a heartbeat, even though it was exhausting at times.
But hey, who says you can’t take a nap in the bath tub?
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