Shelter launches new type of overseas event

Howard Lake | 10 April 2005 | News

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter has launched a new event called Team Building which will allow volunteers to spend five days building new homes in Kenya or Mexico, in return for raising at least £2,500 in sponsorship.

Shelter’s Team Building event takes a different approach to other overseas challenge events. Instead of cycling or walking through exotic and rugged terrain, volunteers get to spend five days working alongside local families to build new homes in Mexico or Keyna. Each new home means an escape from often terrible housing conditions for a local family.

Back in Britain, part of the sponsorship money raised by each volunteer will go to Shelter to support the charity’s work with the homeless and badly housed.

Shelter’s Team Building will take place in January and February 2006. Participants are asked to raise £2,500 in sponsorship money and pay a registration fee of £395 to take part.

Once out on a project, they will find themselves undertaking a wide range of work from digging foundations to plastering and painting. No previous building experience is required – “just plenty of enthusiasm”, say Shelter.

The Team Building event is an unusual variation on the overseas challenge event because it means that Shelter can raise money to support its work with the homeless and badly housed in Britain, and, at the same time, help improve the plight of those living in bad housing in the developing world.

The trips are being arranged by tour operators Charity Challenge.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.