Oh no! the rain is falling.... but we'll try again....

It is Friday afternoon and the rain has started falling again here in Dunedin. "It looks like we'll be blessed with a little more rain." Some of us are keen to go up to the Habitat site in Ashmore Street tomorrow (Saturday 30th May) and try to sort containers, erect toilet and do the profiles. We will be there at 9 a.m. If the rain is bad we will have to cancel again. We really are hoping it will stop long enough for us to do what we want to do. If you want to know if it is cancelled phone 4774848 and listen to the message. If there is no cancellation it will still be on.

Anybody is welcome to join us. We really WANT to make progress!

Water and mud...no work!

The digger has cleared the building area. A pile of gravel is there ready to be spread. The tool and kitchen containers are in place. The surveyors have marked the boundaries. We are ready to start our build.... but there is water, mud and more rain still coming down everywhere. There were some keen volunteers wanting to work anyway, but the consensus was that it was too wet, cold and muddy. Apart from picking up and delivering some chairs to the container we all went back to our warm dry homes. Some of us will work Queens Birthday weekend to make up for lost time.

Working day 23rd May.

On Saturday 23rd of may, if it is fine, we will be doing some preperation work for out build. The two containers have been moved on site. We have to erect the toilet shed (throne room) and clean out and list off what is in the containers. We need to check what tools we have and what building materials. We also need to spread some gravel around the site.

If it is fine we will start at 9 and go through to around 4 p.m. Come when you can go when you must.

If the weather is doubtful you can phone 4774848 and check the answer phone.

What's Happening?

We are starting to build a house with Christine and Mike and their big family. The section is purchased, the plans have been finalised and consent has been granted. Tomorrow, 16th May we have a ground breaking ceremony at 2:30p.m. at the Ashmore Street section.

Our first working day will be Saturday 23rd May at 9 a.m. At some stage some of us will go over to Shona's house to do a fence there.

We will have a rest over Queens Birthday Weekend and then every Saturday after that there will be a working day. Ring the Habitat office for any enquiries (4773507) We will have updates, progress photos and news of work to be done on this blog.

Steps to keeping warm on Saturdays during winter. :-)

1. Work hard at the Habitat House.
2. Enjoy warm company at the Habitat house.
3. Get warm fuzzies as you complete jobs at the Habitat house.
4. Get the ultimate warm fuzzy when Christine, Mike and the family move in.

Exciting progress!

Just an update. The section at 126 Ashmore Street has finally been purchased and now the plans and consent forms for the Dunedin City Council have been lodged. We are getting close to starting the building process. The building committee meets next week to make work out practical details of the build.

We are to have a Ground Breaking Dedication ceremony with the family at the section on Saturday 16th May at 2:30pm. There will be a short ceremony and an afternoon tea to follow.

Are you sharpening up your tools, washing your overalls and sorting out your tape measure? We will be building soon!

Change of plans....

Habitat Dunedin has had a change of plans for this year. We were going to build in the car park of the Mitre Ten Mega store but that has changed.

We have selected a family.
The family we have selected have ten children and so it became impractical to build a house big enough and then relocate it. We have negotiated with our friends at Mitre Ten and we will be doing something with them at a later date. They continue to be a very supportive suppliers for our venture.

We will be building as soon as the section is finalised.
We have been in negotiations to purchase a section for this house. It has been agreed to but needs to be signed off by people "further up the food chain." We have plans drawn up and await the final agreement so that they can be lodged for consent. So WATCH THIS SPACE!

We will be looking for volunteers of all sorts, individuals, groups, male and female to see if we can get this built ASAP for this family who are squeezed into a smallish house at the moment. If you are like me you will be impatient for a new job to start.

Dave Brown

Merry Christmas & a happy New Year.

We want to say to all those who have helped Habitat for Humanity Dunedin in its journey through 2008, "Thank you for being part of our journey!" We have built another house; got to enjoy and know another family; employed an office manager and have been tidying up a lot of paper work. If you had a part in that, thank you. We hope that you have a great Christmas and a good start to the new year.

Plans for next year are unfolding. In the next week or so we expect to know what family we will be partnering with next year. We will be meeting regularly with the Mitre Ten Mega Store people as we work toward starting to build the house in their car park. We are planning a start in mid-march. We will have a public meeting to outline plans and hopefully recruit volunteers to make it all happen. This will be late February or early March. Be ready!

Thanks for 2008! Look forward to another significant year in 2009!

If you are interested in becoming a involved let's know. I have been volunteering in Habitat since 1995 and still find it an enjoyable and enriching experience.

Dave B.