Bellingham, Washington
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Whatcom County Residents help family in Costa Rica

Whatcom County residents help Costa Rican families dream of having a home come true. A group of 15 that was made up of 13 Whatcom county Residents (Ed & Aileen Brandsma, Lee & Laura Phipps, Rachel Phipps, Terry & Alexandra Mattson, Ben Kinney, Ray & Gert Tjoelker, Stephanie Hendricks, and Marlin & Linda Hendricks) one Camano Island Resident Carol Gillespie, and one British resident Ray Fowell. The group travelled to Grecia, Costa Rica to work with Habitat for Humanity to build a home for a local family.

Two weeks of donated time and thousands of dollars were donated by the group. Money was raised to pay for the construction of a 5-600 sqft brick home. Another part of the group conducted a bible vacation school for young and needy children, they delivered enough food to feed a family for a month to many of the poorest families, and brought donated clothing for local residents of San Ramon.

The group was led by a whatcom county couple, Terry and Alexandra Mattson. Their hard work and months of planning made this annual trip a success. Livebellingham.com would like to thank all of the workers and families that gave up their vacation time and money, and that worked so hard this year in Costa Rica. Please enjoy the slide show from their trip.

Visit habitat international for more building opportunities around the world.


 

Costa Rica Trip

 
 
The first day on the job site

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Ray and Carol starting to dig the foundation

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Foundation starting to take shape

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The current residents - Leaf cutter ants!

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10am Break time - Coffee, Pineapple, and some unnamed fruit

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Lee swinging the pick!

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Ray smiling for the camera

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Ray #2 taking a much needed break from shoveling

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Ray dumping another load of dirt over the hill

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The neighbors - admiring the workers

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Another neighbor boy sneaking a peak

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A finished habitat home - same floor plan as the one we are building

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Coffee beans that surround and employ the neighborhood

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The job shack at break time!

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The hill down to the jobsite

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The manager Mateo managing to talk with Marlin and Lee

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Shocking but true a power pole

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The road home

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Ray and Carol walking to the bus

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Lee, Ed, Ray, and Ray walking to the bus

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A costa rican view on the walk home

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A local church

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The work crew having a soda

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Digging the septic tank hole

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More digging - the foundation

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The worst wheel barrows in the world

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Marlin taking a well needed water break! Very hot that day

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110lb bags of cement and a 1000 blocks

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the foundation is dug! 3 feet deep all around

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Rebar - so much rebar to bend

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9 buckets of gravel, 7 of sand, 1 bag of cement, and add water!

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The new home owner

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Alexandra and Laura painting the church

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Ben and the manager Mateo scrapping paint at the church

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Linda, Stephanie, and Aileen painting away at the church

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Carol helping to clean up the church

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Lee and Ray building a wall (AKA hiding from the paint brushes)

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Ed helping to build a wall at the church (AKA not painting)

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Ray using what we had to finish the job

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Ray and Gert working hard at the church

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A Day off with a little time to swim at the river

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The sunset at Jaco Beach

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Lee and Rachel enjoying the sunset at Jaco

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Ray, Ed, Aileen, and Laura geting some coffee

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Sunset plus 5 minutes

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Back to work - pouring the foundation by hand

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Mixing contrete with the foreman Fabio

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Manager Mateo and the new home owner

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Ben and the future home owner

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The crew mixing and shaking

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Lee, Ray, and Ben hauling sand down the steep steep hill.

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Ray and Lee admiring Mateo's first shovel of the day

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Ed mixing Mescuilla

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Marling, Ben, and Carol laying bricks

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The reason we didnt loose weight! Our amazing lunch host Merissa

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The crew hard at work still!!!

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More brick laying

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A sun burned Ben

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Aileen and Gert helping with lunch

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Gert helping some more

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Fabio the Foreman

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It rained that day - wait it rains everyday says Lee and Laura

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O how hard it rains

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Lunch in a rain storm

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How could you not love this chef? Beans and Rice O yeah!

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Ray about to loose at Farkell

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Ed and Aileen - Ed is so proud of that Dos Pinos shirt!

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More progress not quit 5 rows though

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Kids of Costa Rica

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More progress

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Ben's new friends

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The last day and the whole group

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More Kids

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The drive home

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Keller Williams Western Realty – 3800 Byron Ave #148, Bellingham, WA 98229