A team of 21 volunteers made up of Arup staff and friends, family and partners traveled to Yea on Saturday,  27 October  to help complete four homes currently under construction as part of Habitat for Humanity’s Yea Housing Estate Project, which was established in response to the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria.

This was Arup’s third trip up in over the past five  months and our team was able to experience the satisfaction and reward that comes with completing one of the many tasks that previous Arup groups had started… finishing the cladding on one of the four homes.

It was a long day and a lot was achieved. There were plenty of smiles and relief when finally  the last cladding plank was nailed in place.

A Great Achievement

After our three trips to Yea we could walk away satisfied with a job completed and a job well done.

In addition to completing the cladding we also managed to help clear up the worksite, tackle some painting, backfill a retaining wall, hang up 27 doors (who was counting?), strip and clean adhesive off some concrete floors, wire-brush a Hebel clad house, and dig a hole then fill it with concrete (what else do you do with a hole?) to install a new letter box.

Morning tea and a BBQ lunch were provided by the team at Habitat for Humanity and much appreciated by a willing team who had worked up a large appetite.

Good company, plenty of banter, lots of laughs, no tears or tantrums, fresh air and sunshine,  another successful day out!

Thanks to our Volunteers

Thank you to all our volunteers on the day: Frank Gargano, Peter and Anne Bowtell, John and Sandy King, Angela Williams with son Will, Natasha Randall, Jon Osborne, Will Gouthro, Harriet Priddey, Nick Stone and partner Leo, Rachel Ngu, Mitchell Findlay, Marinna Duffield and friend John Keating, James Danatzis, Alan Morgan and David Perl.

A big thank you to all those others who have attended our previous blitz days (so far we have had 47 individuals help out at Yea – a fantastic result and credit to all involved!)

Thanks also to Samantha Webb, Conor Monaghan and Arup CPP for all their efforts and assistance in the organisation of this day and the previous ones.

It was also very fitting to have our Regional Buildings Group Leader Peter Bowtell attend our last blitz day for the year 2012 along with his wife Anne. Peter has been instrumental in developing and forging Arup’s relationship with Habitat for Humanity and has been involved in the Yea project since its inception back in 2009.