Lamenza Corporation has been part of the business community in Mississauga for over 30 years. During this time, our values have shifted to combine purpose with profit, and we have become conscious of the positive economic, social and environmental impact we can have on the Mississauga community.
Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga was the right community organization for us to partner with to make a positive social impact. On July 10th, 2019, the entire Lamenza team laced up our steel-toed boots and traded in our computers for hard hats to become part of the construction crew for Habitat’s Team Build Day. See us in action here.
Our Build Day was quite possibly the hottest day of the year, or so it felt since we ended up working outdoors in broad daylight. Our task? To build the walls on the second floor of two semi-detached homes for Habitat's Merritt Avenue Project in Mississauga. Knowing that these units would eventually house two families and almost 20 people, we got to work. Other than our maintenance team, the rest of us felt like we were all thumbs and left hands. However, that didn’t stop us.
The Habitat crew was wonderful at training us on the tools and techniques we needed to complete our tasks, providing coffee and donuts when we needed it and giving us sun block when are arms got too much sun.
Granted, we were slow given our beginner level of expertise but we worked together and gave each other encouragement when we banged that nail in crooked or just missed it altogether. We all clustered around the building plans when they shared them with us. Some of us even got to use a nail gun and electric saw. Others helped sort building materials and cleaned up the finished areas. And we all got the walls done! It was a challenging yet satisfying opportunity to work hands-on altogether as a team so we could give something back.
All in all, we were humbled to be able to leave a trace in the homes of some deserving families in our community. It allowed us to reflect upon the fact that we are capable and fortunate enough to be able to give back in this way to the urban community Lamenza Corporation has called home for so many years. We hope to return to build another home next year, And maybe this time we will pick a cooler day and work on the interiors like installing kitchen cabinetry or putting up wallboard.