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Real estate agent Ben Gibson has been making a name for himself on the Hibiscus Coast, as a helpful guy.
At the start of this year, he began offering free labour, for five hours at a time, to individuals and community groups. Now he hopes to take this initiative further, creating the Coast’s own ‘volunteer army’, which could offer free labour to residents and businesses during the aftermath of things like natural disasters.
Ben is prepared to do almost any outdoor work, bringing his own tools and equipment to get the job done, and using DIY skills learned from his father-in-law. So far he has notched up around 105 hours of free work – from shifting shells off the ramp at Ōrewa Beach after Cyclone Gabrielle to weeding, water blasting, clearing guttering, painting and hedge trimming for local residents. He painted the bathroom at the Ōrewa Guide Den.
“I’m a bit of an Energiser Bunny when I get going,” he says. “Many older people tell me that the jobs I’ve done in five hours would have taken them six months.”
His aim was to provide his services in every street in central Ōrewa, and he has almost done so.
Although it gets his name as a real estate agent out there, and generates goodwill for his profession, he says the main reason he is doing it is to make a contribution.
When he completes the work, he gives everyone he helps a children’s book that he loves called Have you Filled a Bucket Today, by Carol McLeod.
“I am genuinely filling my own bucket by doing this,” Ben says. “It’s also good that my kids see me doing something with no expectation of a return.”
Now he wants to take the project to the next level, with a community outreach – asking members of the community to join him in donating their labour. The first community Five Hours of Free Labour is on Saturday, October 7 at Ōrewa Beach Primary School.
There, he and hopefully a team of volunteers, will be doing a range of small jobs identified by teachers, including water blasting, cleaning, planting trees and painting.
Ben hopes to do two larger projects like this, each year. Inspired by the Student Army that began after the Christchurch earthquakes, he also hopes to eventually have a group of willing volunteers on hand, who can be called upon to work together for the community when flooding or other events happen locally.
If you can help at Ōrewa Beach School, or would like to be part of the Coast’s volunteer ‘army’, contact Ben by emailing Ben.Gibson@harcourts.co.nz or via these links: www.facebook.com/orewaBeachRealEstate www.instagram.com/orewabeachrealestate/
