I helped out with Habitat for Humanity today, in association with GE. My co-worker Chris started organizing the event, but then he got overwhelmed with work and also went on vacation. So I ended up picking up where he left off and doing a large portion of the planning, organizing, and communicating for it.
When the day of volunteering was done, my forearms and hands were (and still are) pretty sore. It was enjoyable and satisfying work though. I really like assembling things and putting together projects. There's just something innately gratifying and therapeutic to being outdoors (though under a roof) and using your hands, especially when (in this case) there were people there to help us if/when our own knowledge and experience was lacking. Although, I can see how that might not be the case if it was a full time job.
In addition to enjoying the manual labor, I learned some new things about home building and improvement. I am now more familiar with hanging door frames and closet doors, and also got to work on the bathroom floor (putting down water-proof floor panels in preparation for the ceramic tile). As a bonus, the lady who is going to be living in the house (with her kids) stopped by to say hi. So we got to meet the person who's going to be benefiting from our efforts.
The four hours of manual labor really boosted my appetite too. I was hungrier than usual, and since I brought the lunch to the site (paid for by GE) I got to take home the majority of the leftovers (after asking around and giving some of it away to whoever wanted it). So I not only got a free lunch, but I got dinner out of it too.
I'm scheduled to help again next Wednesday, and I gotta admit that I'm somewhat looking forward to it. I'm also curious to see if the conditions (weather, assigned tasks) and end results will be as positive as today's were.
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