Sunday, October 2, 2011

Building Walls

 Saturday, October 1st, David and I participated in our first volunteer adventure with Habitat for Humanity - Detroit.  The event, coordinated by our ABC affiliate in Detroit, WXYZ - Channel 7 and Habitat was called the Build up. 

In January, Channel 7 launched an incredible program called "Detroit 2020."  This program is designed to UNIFY the community for the common good,INSPIRE the community to serve in their own way to help Detroit make a comeback, and ACT - encouraging the citizens of Detroit and the surrounding region to get involved in making positive change for the city.  This multi-year program looks at where we've been, where we currently are, and at all the possibilities for the future.  Anything is possible if we all make "Unify, Inspire, Act" our own personal creed. 

Channel 7 made a call to action to the community to volunteer a portion of their Saturday to help build walls for two houses that will soon be built for deserving families in Detroit.  They took that call to action to Twitter and Facebook as well.  Channel 7 was a ground breaker in the utilization of social media to interact with viewers using the Twitter hashtags #backchannel and #EarlyRisers. 

The response was overwhelming.  The #backchannel, #EarlyRisers, and the community at large came forth in large numbers to participate in the event.  125 volunteers lifted their hammers and did their share to make a difference. 

When David and I first heard of the Build up  I knew that I wanted to do something more than give of my time.. I wanted our company, which specializes in logo-wear, promotional items, and event planning to play a part.  I sat down at my computer and started to create a logo for the event. 

The logo, found at the top of this blog post, symbolizes that a single home, for  deserving family can help lift the entire community.  The logo was accepted by Habitat for Humanity and Channel 7.  We then worked with our partners at the Embroidery Shoppe in Westland, MI to donate tee shirts to all the volunteers who registered and worked that day.  What a thrill it was to see so many people in their t shirts! 

In our business of logo-wear and promotional items - it's all about building team spirit and giving something back to those that give of themselves.  The shirts were a small token of thanks for an incredible team of people from all walks of life, in and around the city of Detroit.

Here are several photos from the event: 

The crowd gathered early... at 7:30 a.m.  It was a blustery, wet, cold day!

A proud moment for me was seeing the large banner hanging in the warehouse, with the Buildup logo on display.

One of our morning anchors, Alicia Smith gathered a group to provide some direction for the day.  This build up was her brain child to bring the Twitter family together to ACT together for the common good of the city.

Assignments were given and the work started! 


Walls were being built and stored for use in the next two Habitat for Humanity home builds.  The gentleman in the grey t shirt in the photo above was tireless in his work on Saturday.  He was a super volunteer!



Teamwork was key.. and in this case, steel-toed boots were also a sure bet!





David and I were loading these 13 foot wall headers into a large semi and being filmed for a story and an upcoming commercial.

Do these jeans make my butt look big? :-)


When walls were raised and transported outdoors.. there was such an incredible feeling of accomplishment. 


A true highlight for me was meeting some of my Twitter friends that I talked to every single morning.  We finally had the chance to meet face to face.  Left to Right - Todd, Michael, Me, Ken, and Dan.  Amazing guys that I look forward to waking up with every weekday morning.  We call ourselves #TeamAmigos and we truly are.

The #TeamAmigos took a photo with our two lead news anchors, Stephen Clark and Alicia Smith.  They really know how to rally the troops!  David joined us for this photo as well. 

I can't even begin to explain how good it felt to participate in this event.  Knowing that the work we did will help a family be safe, give them a 'hand up' in these tough economic times, and better their future meant the world to be.  You can't help but feel grateful for the opportunity to serve.

Understandably, we get caught up in in our daily lives and think we do not have time to volunteer for a good cause.  Find the time to give.  If even an hour - your time makes a difference. 

3 comments:

Perfecting Pru said...

What a wonderful idea and how fantastic that logo is. This looks like a great way to spend a Saturday - I have been curious about it all since seeing your tweats on Twitter. The t-shirts look great, and no, your bum does not look big in those jeans at all!

xx

Elaine said...

We have worked with Habitat for Humanity and they are a great organization. Glad to hear you had such a successful event. Your logo looks great!

mike509 said...

I learned how to use a caulking gun by doing H4H! Great cause and great walls! Looks like the entire town turned out!