CALAIS: A HOME FOR WINTER

The new workshop is now in a settling down into a productive flow. We have been learning how to deal with the large number of challenges that we face on a daily basis, and the rapid turnover of volunteers who can often only stay for a few days at a time can sometimes make things difficult.

On a good day the workshop can now produce 6 fully clad, insulated and wrapped shelters when we have a plentiful supply of materials and a team of experienced carpenters who have settled in and learned the ropes. However sometimes materials are not delivered as promised, longer term volunteers have to leave, or other things like generator or forklift faults slow the pace down. Even so, we still work well and the workshop is a vibrant and enjoyable place to work.

Thanks to the efforts of Alex Cunningham we have clad the walls in CAD drawings of the panel makeup and the layout of the wooden sheets. The shelves are ordered and stocked, and the battery charging station is a mass of wires and flashing LED's.

The space has been graced by some incredibly skilled, kind and inspiring individuals. Just 2 weeks ago it was an empty warehouse room with a missing wall that had been derelict for 10 years. Now it is host to a buzzing shelter building project for displaced people who live in the camp nearby, who are tremendously grateful for the fruits of its labour. We hope this will continue on through Christmas and into 2016.

A huge thank you from the Team for all that supported and spread the word of our fundraiser. We managed to raise more then we set out to do. This money will be put straight to work and please follow this blog to see it in action.