PCL Construction
By Amanda Webster, CNIB Summer Student
Volunteering provides many benefits to the organization receiving the work and to the people delivering the work. And this was the case when a team of PCL Construction employees volunteered for the day at CNIB.
PCL Construction came up with an initiative called “Building Communities” with a goal to personally reach out into communities and make a difference. Since this initiative started in 2007, each year 12 teams of 30- 40 volunteers go out to various organizations, charities, and community projects to lend a helping hand.
This year a team member suggested CNIB as a beneficiary of PCL service. Everyone agreed. The PCL team arrived early 7:30 a.m. and went right to work fixing, building, and cleaning at CNIB. PCL’s dedicated team worked outside in the fragrant garden sanding and repainting the benches used by staff, volunteers, and clients. Inside they spruced up the children’s play room by painting the walls and putting up shelving to organize all the toys. One of the largest jobs was the cleaning and straightening out the talking books. Much energy and time went into organizing, rearranging, and reinforcing the shelving which included removing roughly 65,000 CD’s from their cases.
PCL’s work in one day will have a lasting impact on CNIB programs and services. “We just want to make things easier for CNIB,” says team leader Ian Cantelon “hearing that, what we’re doing here today would otherwise take over a year to finish means that we have made a difference at CNIB.”
The work PCL completed on this special day was even more important to team member David Funk, whose niece has been living with vision loss since birth. David’s niece had used many CNIB services before including spending summers at Lake Jo, CNIB’s all accessible recreational facility. “CNIB is a worthwhile cause,” says David “the services they provide have an impact on those who are living with vision loss.”
This is the first time PCL has volunteered at CNIB and they hope to do so again in the future. “CNIB is vital to people who are living with vision loss,” says Ian, “it is an organization for people to turn to, an organization that provides support and services necessary to lead good quality of life while living with vision loss.”