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Event: Hurricane Harvey Rebuilding Houston, TX - Week Long Trip
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Location: HI Houston (The Morty Rich Hostel)
501 Lovett Blvd, Houston, TX 77006
Date: Mar 1st 2020, 4:00 pm - Mar 7th 2020, 12:00 pm
Staff: Manager: Graham P
RSVP: This event has already occurred

Event Description:

PLEASE DO NOT RSVP UNLESS YOU HAVE ALREADY PAID YOUR SPOT - THIS RSVP LIST IS A MAILING LIST ONLY TO TRIP PARTICIPANTS. THANKS

Join One Brick Builds to assist with recovery efforts following Hurricane Harvey, which caused $125 billion worth of damage in Houston and Southeast Texas. One Brick will be volunteering with SBP, our non-profit partner headquartered in New Orleans, assisting with recovery efforts following Hurricane Harvey. Lodging will be with our partner Hosteling International at their Houston Hostel (the Morty Rich Hostel).

PLEASE NOTE: We charge volunteers to attend this event. To book a spot on the trip you must purchase a ticket on our Eventbrite page.

The $135 fee includes lodging from Sunday, March 1st to Saturday, March 7th, 2020. This fee covers a group pizza dinner on Sunday night, logistical costs of the Event Manager and a small donation to the One Brick Builds Scholarship fund. As only a limited number of spots are available we recommend purchasing your trip ticket right away!

Note we have received discounted lodging from HI USA as this trip will be part of the HI Great Hostel Give Back Program which allows nonprofit groups that perform volunteer work in the community of the hostel to stay for free/reduced rates at the hostel for in exchange for their volunteer work and participation in a hostel activity (such as cooking a group meal for hostel guests)
 
Trip ticket is non-refundable. If a replacement registrant can be found for your ticket, you may be able to receive a refund based on a confirmed replacement.  Please note however that NO refunds will be made for cancellations made less than 30 days before the trip as this does not give us sufficient time to find a replacement volunteer.
 
One Brick Remote Activity Waiver: All volunteers must complete, sign and return the waiver two weeks prior to the trip start date. Volunteers who fail to return this in time will not be authorised to participate on the trip, nor will refunds be offered. Particular attention is drawn to the "Condition of Participating paragraph".  Please send completed waivers to Graham at GrahamP@onebrick.org
 
If you have any questions simply send details send Graham an email at GrahamP@onebrick.org
 
 

What we'll be doing:

We won't know specifically what we will be working on until we arrive. However, no building experience is necessary, as there will be on-site training and supervisors there to help guide us.

On your first day, you will receive your assigned task on the project home, and be trained for that task. We ask that you please continue working at the same home until that stage of the project is completed. This ensures forward progress on the home without re-training volunteers daily. Typical tasks include: hanging drywall, installing flooring, painting trimwork, and mold remediation.  We may also be asked to help on gutting flooded homes.

Works day starts approx. 8:30a.m. to about 4:30 p.m.

What you should know:

 
HI Houston includes the following amenities (more details will be provided closer to the date of the event:
 
Pool
Free Wi-Fi
Free continental breakfast
Fully equipped, shared guest kitchen
Free pool table
24-hour reception
Free parking
Recommended packing: sun screen, mosquito repellent, dirty laundry bag, and personal toiletries. More details will be provided by the event manager. Smoking/tobacco is not permitted in the rooms.
 
Transportation: Volunteers must provide their own transportation. One Brick will help group volunteers together to share car rental cost amongst themselves. The closest major airports are:
- George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH)
- William P Hobby Airport (HOU)
 
Other items:
Airline tickets are not included. Volunteers are responsible for lunch costs and other meals, entertainment not included
 
Houston FAQs
 

Where to Meet:

Is this trip for me? 
 
Is this trip for me? One Brick disaster relief trips are TONS of fun each year with volunteers from all over the US and sometimes beyond! Please however consider the following before signing up:
 
Housing is in dormitory style rooms at HI Houston Hostel.
 
Bathrooms are shared with other volunteers and other hostel guests
 
As we are receiving a reduced lodging cost as part of the Great Hostel Give Back Program, volunteers will need to participate in some hostel activities, which may include cooking a group meal for hostel guests or similar activities. More details will be provided by the event manager closer to the date of the event.
 
Depending on the volunteer work you may need to stand or kneel for long periods of the day
 

SBP:

SBP was founded in March 2006 by Zack Rosenburg and Liz McCartney after the couple (now married), who originally lived in Washington, D.C., volunteered in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish following Hurricane Katrina. The parish, located just outside of New Orleans, was rendered 100% uninhabitable by Katrina’s floodwaters. Seeing the inefficiency and unbearably slow progress of the institutional - or “traditional” rebuilding process, but inspired by the residents' collective spirit and fierce determination to rebuild, Zack and Liz launched an organization - originally called St. Bernard Project - to help them achieve their recovery goals.

With the tremendous support of donors, volunteers and corporate partners, that organization has grown from a three-person volunteer team into a national organization headquartered in New Orleans, and recognized as a leader in disaster resilience and recovery, with a mission to shrink the time between disaster and recovery.

With operations nationwide, it rebranded in 2016 changing its name officially to, SBP. In doing so the new name allows the organization to grow well beyond its hyper-local roots in St. Bernard Parish, while still retaining the legacy and spirit of those early days.

SBP seeks to achieve its mission via five interventions:

  • Rebuild homes quickly after disasters by mobilizing private sector innovations and assigning a single point of contact to make the home rebuilding process faster and more predictable.
  • Share rebuilding innovations with other rebuilding organizations to allow for efficient, predictable recovery on a national scale.
  • Prepare home and business owners prior to and following disaster with specific steps to mitigate risk and improve resilience.
  • Advise policy makers immediately after a disaster so they can deploy federal dollars sooner, and in a way that empowers an efficient recovery.
  • Advocate for the reform of disaster recovery strategies in the U.S. to improve the predictability and speed of recovery.

SBP’s model is greatly enhanced by AmeriCorps members from all over the country who serve as client case managers, volunteer coordinators and construction site supervisors, overseeing the labor of more than 25,000 volunteers annually at SBP operations around the U.S.

With its construction system enhanced and optimized through an ongoing partnership with Toyota, which helped implement lean manufacturing processes, SBP rebuilds homes far below market rate, and carries out construction projects with much lower subsidies than traditional affordable housing models.

Since 2006, SBP has directly rebuilt homes for more than 1,888 families with the help of more than 180,000 volunteers in New Orleans, LA; Joplin, MO; Staten Island, NY; Rockaway, NY; Monmouth/Ocean Counties, NJ; San Marcos, TX; Columbia, SC; Baton Rouge, LA; Houston, TX; Brazoria County, TX; and Puerto Rico.

 

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