The HeroWork Society helps non-profits renovate community infrastructure at a fraction of the normal cost and time—with modern-day versions of an old-fashioned barn-raising
When Victoria’s Threshold Housing Society received the donation of a $725,000 four-unit apartment building to help house homeless youth, they turned to renovations phenom Paul Latour and his ground-breaking HeroWork initiative for help. The building, located on Davie Street in the South Jubilee neighbourhood, could house up to 8 youth, but needed to be brought up to code, furnished and made user-ready.
In another shining example of one nonprofit helping another, HeroWork organized a team of volunteers who will transform Threshold’s apartments over the course of three weekends. Hundreds of business, contractors and volunteers are involved in what ultimately serves as a profound example of community-building and person-to-person caring.
HeroWork founder Paul Latour calls these interventions “radical community renovations.” They’re a contemporary version of the almost-forgotten but equally transforming “barn raisings” of the past. The HeroWork Society aims to become the preeminent program for non-profits to renovate their existing community infrastructure—and to do it at a fraction of the normal cost and time.
We speak with Paul Latour, founder of HeroWork.
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— peoplefirstradio (@peoplefirstrad) September 25, 2014
video
Bee Green interview with Paul Latour from Hero Work – A Community Based Extreme Makeover Program – $500,000 renovation of the Mustard Seed in Victoria BC – Part 1 (June 15, 2013)
