Prouty Project X Blue Mountains
Landing from the icy temperatures of Minneapolis into the humid haze of Sydney – Team Prouty jumped heart-first into a huge week of corporate volunteering. Habitat partnered with the Prouty Project team, 2 partner families, and Link Wentworth for 5-days of bushfire resilience work in the heart of the Blue Mountains.
The Prouty team covered a whopping amount of land, helping to futureproof over 27 homes against bushfires. Their efforts involved the removal of mass amounts of overgrowth, and monumental hours into sawing, shredding, and, raking away leaves, debris, and other highly flammable foliage from close proximities to people’s doorways and windows.
Habitat for Humanity Australia’s Project supervisor, Ben, shared the importance of these large volunteer days “The amount of work you can achieve in one day with a group of this size is close to what you can do in about 5 days with fewer people. Effectively these volunteers are doing about $25,000 worth of work in just one day.”
Bushfire History
The 2019-2020 bushfires burnt over 24.3 million hectares of land, including around 80% of the Blue Mountains and yet it received no financial support from the $177m disaster relief fund. Whilst there have been great community efforts over the last few years to rectify the damage and increase safety, there remained several high-risk areas within more vulnerable communities.
Habitat for Humanity Australia’s Role
This is where Habitat for Humanity Australia’s work comes in; we mobilise volunteers like the Prouty group to help community members who may not have the capacity to maintain their homes. The work involves clearing natural fuels like excessive overgrowth to reduce the risk of flammable hazards that also help to protect both the homes and the people inside, by ensuring a more accessible escape path.
Volunteer Impact
Milly and her husband Pat are one of our partner families who reside on a large plot of land in the Blue Mountains. The Prouty team kicked off their volunteer week helping to clean up overgrowth and undergrowth on their property to help minimise the catch-and-spread risk associated with potential future bushfires.
In Milly’s words “It’s hugely impactful because we’re getting on… and my husband has a medical condition so it’s becoming increasingly more challenging to get out there and manage it, so when people come and help out it is always appreciated.”
A few Prouty team members also shared some moments of impact for them across the week.
“Everybody has been so appreciative of our help, but I feel like I should be thanking them because it’s felt so rewarding.”
“If you’re thinking about volunteering with Habitat, you won’t regret it. You get the chance to give back in a really impactful way.”
“It’s wonderful to be able to help others who need it, and it’s helped our group feel connected too – more so than just going to the pub!”
If your organisation is thinking about team building that’s a little more meaningful, get in touch – we’d love to chat about upcoming volunteer opportunities. Email us at [email protected]