Projects
For the construction-based service projects, VISIONS participants don't just ferry buckets of nails to carpenters or hand off cinder blocks and adobe bricks to maestros to put in place. Participants do the work. We engage local masons and adobe maestros to teach the skills. Where we build with wood, we employ bona fide carpenters as full-fledged members of the leadership team.
In the Caribbean where every home, school, community center and clinic was built to hurricane specifications, all structures remain sound, having sustained only minimal damage from hurricanes.
Below are data on VISIONS service projects since 1989, starting with construction projects and ending with the non-construction service that every program offers in addition to construction. You can also see a complete list of our 2011 summer projects here.
Ground-up Construction 1989-2011
GRAND TOTAL - 995 structures, including 22 schools, 61 houses, 121 new additions to buildings (rooms, roofs, decks/porches, stairs, ramps) and the following...
- Community centers
- Playgrounds
- Outdoor pavilions and stages
- Orphanage home
- Medical / dental clinics
- Fire house
- Bridges
- Cisterns and wells
- Irrigation canals and trenches
- Trails and environmental walkways
- Wildlife observation decks
- Cleaner burning stoves
- Compostable latrines
- Bio-digestors
- Humane Society dog houses
- Sidewalks
- Smokehouses
- School furniture (desks, chairs, shelving units)
- Roads
- Greenhouses
- Hatchery construction
- Bird houses and towers
- Septic tanks
- Play and exercise structures
- Pole barns and shade arbors
- Ceremonial structures
- Sweat lodges and steam bath houses
- Athletic courts and fields
- Fences and walls
- Sheds-storage, food and garden sheds
- Picnic tables
- BBQ grills/pits
- Ceramic ovens
- Chain saw mill
- Benches and bleachers
- Fish wheel and fishing decks
- Compost barrels
Renovations and painting in addition to ground-up construction
GRAND TOTAL 294, including...
- Water filtration/potable water systems
- Fences and fencing repair
- Handicap ramp repair
- Historic sites clean-up
- Playgrounds and play structures
- Murals
- Roads (paving)
- Classrooms and other rooms
- Buildings (demolish, refurbish, winterize, etc.)
SOCIAL SERVICE
- Apprenticeships and internships with farmers, agricultural cooperatives, artisans and health workers
- Children's day camps
- English instruction, intercambios
- Volunteering w/handicapped and elderly
- Oral history interviews and documentation
- Environmental education
- Gardening and farming
- Tree planting
- Dam and bridge restoration
- Animal husbandry, including preservation, data collection and recording
- Environmental surveying
- Firebreaks
- Weed eradication
- Park and beach clean-ups
- Food distribution
- Preparing and serving food, set-up, clean-up for ceremonies
Questions? Call 800.813.9283.
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