Category: Build a House

Steve Rae volunteers his time and energy to the Foundation Village.

Steve Rae volunteers his time and energy to the Foundation Village.

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 1 Jun 2017

This week (1st – 7th June) is the beginning of Volunteer week. Steve Rae is an amazing example of volunteering his time and energy to the Foundation and we ask you all to take the time over the week, to help in your chosen way. Whether it is offering your help to us, or your preferred charity, volunteering work is valuable to us all, and very much appreciated.

Here are a few words from Steve about his experience volunteering at our village.

“My first impression of the Greg Secker Foundation village was WOW, and that view became more impressive over the next few days.

The villagers were absolutely lovely people. They were warm and friendly, and incredibly excited about the project – they LOVED Greg Secker, not only for his generosity in funding the project, but his personal touch when he visits the site, and they spoke about him with a huge amount of hope and excitement in their eyes.

In my time with Learn to Trade (Sydney) I had been moved by the update videos on the village with the heart warming stories of local people who will benefit from the generosity of the Greg Secker Foundation. It was just amazing to have the opportunity to meet these people myself, and to hear their stories face to face, …especially young Fatima who received a life changing operation to remove a large tumour. She is now the happiest girl in town and catching up on her school work. She is already enjoying a better and brighter future thanks to the Greg Secker Foundation.

The building site looked very challenging, …beginning with virgin land in the foothills outside a remote village with no infra-structure or utilities only months ago – the project team and contractors had already done a great job in completing 50 houses. There is some urgency to complete the remaining site infrastructure (slope protection, drainage channels and internal roads) before the on coming wet season.

My role was to provide some engineering support to the Project Team, and I had the opportunity to meet with the local engineers to discuss the detail design for the slope protection. The main area of focus being an almost vertical escarpment over 10m in height, which required a substantial retaining wall to prevent the subsidence of 6 houses that would be built on the higher level. How can you resist a technical challenge like that!!

I learned during my visit that this project is not just about providing a home to 100 families, but the Greg Secker Foundation genuinely wants to create a better future and change their lives. This vision is backed up by many initiatives, including a training facility at the village for greater employment prospects. This has to be the gold standard in rebuilding a village!!

My visit to the village as a volunteer was very rewarding and I am definitely keen to contribute further to this Foundation that is making such a difference to peoples lives.”

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVFy857EGKY&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Alya our Social Worker, organises a General Assembly at the Village.

Alya our Social Worker, organises a General Assembly at the Village.

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 31 May 2017

Last weekend, our Social Worker, Alya organised a General Assembly at the Village. 

Photo 27-05-2017-2

The aim of the assembly was to: 

  1. Introduce Alya as the new Social Worker for the beneficiaries.
  2. Form core groups within the beneficiaries to facilitate easy access to them.
  3. Give each group areas of responsibility within the community.
  4. Announce increase of  hours to 650 per family over the year. (This is the beneficiaries way of working in the village without any pay so they feel they have earned the house through their hard work. They can do any work that is available in the village.) Once the houses are complete and they move in, they have to start maintaining the houses as the official owners. 

 Photo 27-05-2017-4

After the assembly finished, games were organised for the children; Longest line and Music stop game. Even the parents enjoyed the games!

 

Photo 27-05-2017-9

Photo 27-05-2017-8

Photo 27-05-2017-6

 

 

 

 

Steve Rae a qualified Engineer from Sydney, visits the village and whilst there meets one of our beneficiaries.

Steve Rae a qualified Engineer from Sydney, visits the village and whilst there meets one of our beneficiaries.

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 25 May 2017

Steve Rae became involved with the Foundation, through a ‘Learn to Trade Business and Entrepreneur Conference’ in Sydney. He started trading with Learn to Trade and a year later at a Tradeathon met Greg. Greg spoke about the Foundation and the problems they were having with regards to the heavy rainfall and slope protection.

Steve Looking at site

With a background in engineering, Steve offered to visit the site and with his expertise advise us on how best to approach the problem. It was while he was visiting the village that he met one of our beneficiaries Sabet and learnt of her story. 

 Steve Rae Interview Sabet and Fatima

Please watch our video on the Foundation Facebook page to hear what Steve had to say.

 

We welcome our newest member to the Greg Secker Foundation: Ms. Alya J. Araez.

We welcome our newest member to the Greg Secker Foundation: Ms. Alya J. Araez.

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 16 May 2017

We would like to welcome our newest member to the Greg Secker Foundation team, Ms. Alya J. Araez.   

image1-2

Ms. Alya joins us as our Social Worker and will be based at the Greg Secker Foundation Village. She will act as our lead community organiser and carry out the phases and activities in the community.  She will also develop and implement skills training and other relevant activities for the growth and empowerment of the beneficiaries living in the community.

Ms. Alya is the main point of contact for all our beneficiaries and will deal with any issues or concerns that they might have.

Photo 07-05-2017-19

We are thrilled to have her on board as I am sure the beneficiaries are too! We look forward to working with you Ms. Alya. 

 

 

Another Eggscuse To Treat Our Beneficiaries!

Another Eggscuse To Treat Our Beneficiaries!

By Rachel Ainsworth Leave a comment 18 Apr 2017

With the kids on school holidays, and the weather being so beautiful here in the UK over the bank holiday weekend, we can forget that there are others less fortunate than us.  

From decorating eggs, making bunny costumes and church services, Easter really is even more fun with kids. With this in mind, we decided to give our young beneficiaries a little egg-stra this weekend… here’s a video to show you how much fun we all had! 

Philanthropy – what does it really mean?

Philanthropy – what does it really mean?

By DR June Sanico Leave a comment 5 Apr 2017

This week we wanted to talk about Philanthropy – What does the word actually mean?

Philanthropy can be broadly defined as love for human kind. It is derived from the Greek words “philos”, which means loving and “anthropos” which means humankind. A person who practices Philanthropy is called a Philanthropist.

The purpose of Philanthropy is to improve the wellbeing of humankind by preventing and solving social problems. Philanthropy is not the same as Charity. Charity focuses on eliminating the suffering caused by social problems, while philanthropy focuses on eliminating social problems. For example, giving food to a person who is suffering from famine is charity. The food helps the person for a short period of time, but the person will be become hungry again in the future. Teaching the person how to grow food is philanthropy because it eliminates the social problem causing the person’s hunger.

So, we as a Foundation are extremely honored to have Greg Secker as our Founder. We cover both the Charity and the Philanthropy! We are not just helping our community in the Philippines by building them new homes, but with Greg at the helm with his Philanthropic energy, are providing them the tools for a sustainable future too.

Slope Protection

Slope Protection

By Marie Sorli Leave a comment 24 Nov 2016

It’s rainy season here in the Philippines and heavy rains have been hitting Lemery for the past weeks. The rain has been so persistent that it’s caused flooding covering over 1m in neighbouring towns! This morning we had our second board meeting in the Philippines, where the key topic was slope protection and the safety of our workers and beneficiaries. The location of our site is extremely hilly, and heavy rainwater has eroded large segments of our land in parts of the area.

soil erosion

We are there for looking at an extensive system of slope protection to ensure our site remains safe. Working on programmes in countries that are frequently hit by natural disasters has its issues, but also its solutions. We hope to build back better, and we hope you will join us by donating a brick, and sending us your #BrickPic this #GivingTuesday! On November 29th, we’ll be launching our #BuyABrick campaign where we will be asking people to buy a brick for £5 and send us their #BrickPic. 

As we need more extensive slope protection than originally estimated, we really need your help in order to get there. We are now focusing our efforts on slope protection and have two currently in place and several in the planning stages! Our land is safe, but we want to ensure that it remains safe for generations to come.

slope protection

The Philippines are hit by approximately 20 Typhoons each year, and with scientists predicting these to become stronger in the future, now is the time to look at how we can help mediate the effect of the weather and ensure our beneficiaries will be safe and have a home to call their own for several generations. If you’re interested in helping, why not give us some of your cyber change and buy a brick for £5 today!

Drawing

Media coverage from our July trip

Media coverage from our July trip

By Marie Sorli Leave a comment 30 Jul 2016

“We want to help our beneficiaries thrive, not just survive. Providing them with the skills will make them resilient,”

– Greg Secker.

We’re in the The Daily Guardian! It’s been a bit over one week since our team was in Lemery helping with housing construction and breaking the ground for the next iteration. We are so lucky to have great supporters and to be welcomed with open arms from the government, local officials, the media, and most of all the community of Lemery!

daily-guardian

Our second groundbreaking was followed closely by Philippine media and our visit in the Philippines started with a press conference in Manila before flying to Iloilo. 

july-2016

The foundation featured in ABS-CBN’s Fish n’ Town show as well as several newspapers and radio channels.

I highly recommend reading some of the great articles written on our Build a House, Build a Home project by the Manila Standard Today, Philippine Star and The Manila Times.

All our media coverage can also be found on our media page, so make sure to check it out! 

 

Greg volunteering on site

Greg volunteering on site

By Marie Sorli Leave a comment 23 Jul 2016

The time has finally come. Greg and some of the directors of his companies have the past few days been volunteering on site, doing tasks such as painting, landscaping, and filling sand bags. 

der_8074

We started the trip with a groundbreaking ceremony for the new iteration of houses.

cky_5557

We are close to completion on the first iteration with 20 homes, with the next iteration of 30 homes now underway.

cky_5687

The foundation is very close to Greg’s heart and working for the foundation is like being adopted into the Secker family. It was therefore a no-brainer that he brought his parents along to the trip. John Secker was painter extraordinaire and Sandy Secker was the chief water woman!

der_8046

Everyone was put to work during the day, even Micheal, one of our donors who just sponsored a family home. Micheal spent his spare time from filling sandbags, getting to know the family that he is giving a new lease in life.

bky_8248

In the evening we celebrated with the workers and beneficiaries. Karaoke is very big in the Philippines, so each night when the sky became dark, the Karaoke machine was put to work. Young and old gathered together to sing, some better than others, but all entertaining in their own way.  

First Employee Volunteers

First Employee Volunteers

By Marie Sorli Leave a comment 3 Jul 2016

For years Greg’s companies have been supporting the charity financially. Now staff have a chance to get hands-on and get a personal connection with the project!  The first Employee Volunteers went out on the 25th of July and were on site till the 1st of July.

13528777_315298835468972_9051322506963201513_n

Abi, Barbie and Jonny from LTT UK, SA and Phil have been great and got properly stuck in with painting. It’s been a very warm week, with the occasional thunderstorms, but the team have just carried on and worked really well with our engineers and workers. 

DR and I are very happy to have had the opportunity to work with them this week and see first hand their enthusiasm for the project grow day by day. 

13511031_315693588762830_8334022849888165211_n

On day four of volunteering, our dedicated team met with Raffy. Raffy is one of the Foreman on site, currently leading a team of 8 workers to build two houses of the first 20. Raffy and his family are one of the many beneficiaries of the project. He showed the volunteers his handy work and stopped outside what is to be his and his family’s home. He was very proud when he told them about the hard work and love he’s put into the building and made them all laugh by claiming it’s the best looking out of all of them! (They have identical designs). It was a very busy day where the volunteers painted not one but three houses! The highlight though is the truly humbling experience of meeting such great and inspirational people like Raffy.

13494887_316658568666332_6964563408050923200_n

As well as painting houses, the volunteers have also helped with the beneficiary selection. They have gone through close to 150 applications and rated them as yes, maybe or no. The first stage of beneficiary selection has now finished and stage two is due to start, with Greg taking over the helm. 

13590495_316916165307239_6166181829153785143_n

Next employee volunteers to come on the site is Greg and some of the directors of his companies! I for one am really looking forward to telling my boss what to do on a construction site. Now that is something that doesn’t happen every day. 

This cannot be missed, so stay tuned!ÂÂ