GFL team hones building skills to help family 

GFL’s Brunswick, North Carolina, team helped on the build of a new home for a single mom and her four children through Habitat for Humanity as part of the Full Circle Project (FCP). GFL also made a US$5,000 donation to Habitat for Humanity through FCP. 

“We had fun and we all felt we had accomplished something at the end of the day and had given back to the community,” said William Smith, facility manager. 

The team spent six hours on site one Saturday afternoon in March and contributed in a variety of ways. They split into three groups, one worked on the hurricane ties on the roof system, another worked inside the house putting in the blocking for the cabinets, and the third group worked outside putting up the walls on a storage shed. 

“I had never put walls together before or framed [a shed] and put sheathing on it, so I learned quite a bit,” Smith said. 

Smith learned about Habitat for Humanity when they built a house for his brother. This inspired him to encourage his coworkers to support the organization. Habitat’s vision is to create a world where everyone has a decent place to live. 

Jerry Baley, operations manager, has some carpentry experience but noted it was challenging for some people to do unfamiliar things like climb scaffolding, but the build empowered everyone by teaching them new skills to work in a safe manner. 

“At the end of the day, everybody was talking about what we’d accomplished,” Baley said. “And on Monday morning [after we volunteered] we had a little slideshow and everybody who was involved talked about it and shared their positive experiences. I think when we do it again, more people will sign up because they saw how good a time everyone had.” 

The new homeowner’s mother works in the waste management industry and she sent an email thanking the GFL employees for helping her daughter. Coincidentally, volunteer Sam Mullis who drives for GFL, works the same route the new home is on. 

A big shoutout to those who gave of their time: 

• Jerry Baley, operations manager
• Micki Bozeman, operations supervisor 
• Scott Bryant, driver 
• Charlie Knox, mechanic 
• Sam Mullís, driver 
• William Smith, facility manager 
• Samantha Watts, customer service representative 
• Brian Webb, lead driver 

“It was a really good feeling and we're planning to continue our partnership with Habitat for Humanity so we can work on other projects in the future,” Smith said. 

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