DAY FIVE – MAY 12, 2022 – CONTINUE SERVICE WORK IN VILLA DEL RIO
From the voice of Jaylon King – Football, r-Jr., La Vergne, Tenn.
“Waking up this morning and loading the bus at 9 am the group and I knew it was time to finish what we started yesterday. To recap yesterday and give some background, we mixed cement, water, sand, and gravel to create a concrete mixture, which is then used as the foundation of Angel’s son’s, Anthony, new home. Being new to the process and determining each other’s strength, the first day on the work site was a little slow. After our lunch we were able to implement a process that would allow us to work faster and be more efficient in transporting the concrete and laying it down. The change in progress was exponential. Before lunch it seemed as if we only filled an eighth of the foundation but after adopting a new process we left the site with nearly half the foundation laid.
Now that we’re all caught up, we can talk about today’s progress. After the bus dropped us off at the site we hit the ground running. Using the new style we adopted yesterday, everyone knew where to go and what job they were performing. This led to minimal downtime and maximum efficiency. By the time lunch rolled around we had an eighth of the foundation down.
For lunch we enjoyed a nice home-cooked meal prepared by Angel’s wife, Maria. She blessed us with some wings, salad, pasta, and rice/beans. I personally enjoyed lunch because it forces you to socialize with the people you’re working with and get to know them. It’s a little bit different when you’re on the job site.
After lunch we completed the rest of the foundation in a little less than an hour. Once the last bit of concrete was laid, there was an abundance of emotions throughout the group. The most expressed emotions were relief and excitement. Relief because the work was tough and no matter which shift you were on your body felt some sort of wear and tear. Excitement because we finished a three-day project in less than two days and were able to spend the rest of the day as we liked.
Upon the return to the house, we quickly cleaned up and slid to the beach to relax. Near the beach was a restaurant, Solymar, which is where we decided to have an unscheduled group dinner. As much as I loved eating rice and beans and other Puerto Rican dishes, I had to get some American food. I settled for some BBQ and buffalo wings with a side of fries. To conclude the day, we went back to the house and played games such as uno, volleyball, spades, and soccer.”
From the voice of Mike Maye – Football, r-Jr., Hoover, Ala.
“Today was a day full of camaraderie and teamwork. Today was the second day of building the foundation for the future home that is being built for a hurricane survivor in Puerto Rico. The team built formations, assembly lines, and designated roles in order for over 20 people to complete this project. Here in this picture is the final stretch of finishing the foundation for the house, where you can see me holding buckets for those shoveling to shove the cement mix into the bucket in an efficient manner. I personally thought this job was not very important because I was shoveling sand, rocks, cement and making sure all elements of concrete mix were getting into the mixing machine.
After completing the role of holding buckets for those shoveling, I realized that no particular role is less important than the other. Teamwork is essential to complete a task no matter how tedious the role might be. I saw that my companions also took on this mindset and accepted whatever role they had on the project. My companions from GT and I used this mentality to complete the foundation in a record-breaking time of TWO days! We worked very hard to get this done and without the unselfishness of the team we would not be able to achieve these results. Thank you Global Works for bettering my mentality and showing me what a group of people can do when we all focus on the task at hand!”
