City Reach Build

On Monday, Feb. 27th, the materials were acquired from Michelle. They were brought to Adam’s house and the box was constructed. Using our CAD drawings we came up with a construction plan to maximize our efficiency. Construction took approximately 4 hours. As an extra precaution for safety, we made sure to sand the edges and rough spots to prevent splinters. Everything went exactly to plan.

The following is a photo from construction day.

Unfortunately, the original elbow hinges that Michelle got for us were not suitable for use with our box. The hinges we requested were not available at Rona. So, we resorted to using bolts and a chain to keep the lid open.

The final product consisted of:

• main compartment with a removable divider
• removable tray for smaller items
• side compartment for hockey sticks
• hinged lid with lock and handles
• swivel wheels with optional locking mechanism

On Thursday, Mar. 1st, we delivered the box to CityReach. We left the box slightly unfinished in order to involve the kids in minor hands-on experience. We brought extra tools expecting to work with multiple kids, but only two were given the privilege of working with us. Cam and Dakota helped us put the chain on and added a couple screws to the box.

We then presented to the kids and organizers at CityReach. We gave a brief description of how we built it and what features we added to the box. The kids were extremely excited that we had built something for them and the coordinators were very pleased with the finished project.

After delivering the project we all felt very grateful to have the opportunity to help out our community and this organization.

Michelle has now picked up the materials and they are at CityReach.  We were unable to get them donated, but she has decided to utilize the budget provided by UBC. In accordance with our construction plan, we will be using the UBC truck to pick up the materials and prebuild offsite. We picked the Chevy truck because it has a full sized box to fit the plywood. We have reserved this truck for Monday, Feb. 20th, from 8:30-2pm and have coordinated a 9:30am pick up time with Michelle.

After we pick up the materials, we will build at Nathan’s apartment. Nathan, Mike and Adam will be preassembling the box as the rest of us will be out of town.

Our next steps are:

• store the box at Mike’s place
• coordinate a time to build at the site
• reserve the truck again to deliver the box
• present to the children

We have submitted a list of materials to Michelle at CityReach. As they are trying to procure a donation from the nearby Rona, we are currently waiting to hear back on that possibility. If that is not possible, there is a tentative limit of ~$200 that the faculty will supply to cover materials costs.

Hopefully, we will be in possession of the materials by the end of next week. Then we can borrow a vehicle from the engineering department to pick them up. We are planning to do the cuts over reading break, although some of our members will be away. Since we do not know at this time whether the UBC civil shop will be open during the reading break, we may have to move the cutting back to Michael’s house as originally planned.

After the break, we will do the assembly at the CityReach centre and attempt to involve the children as much as possible. We will have inquire about an extension to make this possible though, since the current deadline is set for the end of the break.

Since some of the materials are of a very specific nature, we have sent Michelle the following pictures of what we would like for some of the materials:

• Locking system

• Wheels

• Hinge

• Lid stay

Over the past week, the group has gathered together to develop a plan to proceed with construction. Michelle requested to put shelving in the larger recessed area and a cork board in the smaller one. However, due to building policies, it would require us to meet with the Facility Manager and arrange a time to install the shelves.  Unfortunately, due to limited time, we decided it would be best to focus on the cork board and the gym storage box. We devised a list of materials listed below:

• 3 – sheets of 3/4″ plywood
• 3 – 8′ 2×4’s (for corners of box)
• 3 – (Optional) 8′ pieces of Trim 1×1 (for the cork board)
• 1 – Box of 8 x 1 1/4″ screws (need a box of 200+) (for shelving and box)
• 2 – Door Hinges (for the box)
• 2 – Elbow Hinges (for the box)
• 1 – Latch system (for the box)
• Cork board (enough to cover 30″x76″)
• 4- Wheels (box)

Michelle will forward this list to Rona, and hopefully we will have the donations within the next week to start construction of the box.

Below is an AutoCAD drawing of our box:

AutoCAD drawings of our box

There will be 2 phases of construction.  Firstly, we will cut all the pieces of wood at Michael’s house as he has the necessary tools. We will then transport the pieces to The Warehouse to assemble the box IKEA style. This way, in a safe and supervised manner, we can involve the kids, allowing them to gain experience with handy-work and basic construction.  Michelle informed us that they have paint and paintbrushes so we can, with the kids, add a little spice to the box.

Our next steps are:

• Acquiring materials
• Cutting the pieces of plywood
• Building the box
• Painting the box

This week we started drafting our design of the storage box and shelving. The following are pictures of our proposed design.

We also sent another email to Michelle at CityReach to show her our drafted design and proposed ideas for the 2 recessed areas.  We are in the process of making a list of materials.  Hopefully, Rona will be generous enough to donate all of the materials that we need. If not, CityReach can be reimbursed for the costs by UBC.

We considered numerous safety aspects to protect the children from injury:

• elbow hinge to lock the lid open
• foam cushioning on the corners to prevent the lid from closing too fast
• hockey stick compartment is deep enough so as to prevent the hockey sticks from toppling over

Our team includes:

• Adam Bodlack
• Graeme Gane
• Jess Herman
• Michael Barrett
• Michelle Li
• Nathan Ramler

CityReach Care Society  is a non-profit organization located in East Vancouver dedicated to helping low-income families. They have a variety of outreach programs such as a food bank, an out of school care program, a nutritional education program (edukitchen), and a legal clinic. CityReach’s vision is “to enable children, youth and families to develop and grow both as individuals and as a community, through programs and activities offered in a safe and caring environment.”

Our project is to build an athletics supplies storage container, as well as a shelving area for their out of school care program. The storage container will contain sporting gear, including balls, bean bags, and hockey sticks.  The box needs to have wheels, a lid, and a lock.  The dimensions are negotiable, but it should be able to fit through a doorway (28″ wide). There are 2 recessed areas in the walls that CityReach is hoping to take advantage of. We have measured the dimensions, and are hoping to build shelving there.

We have decided that wood would be the easiest material to work with.  Michelle mentioned that CityReach has a strong relationship with Rona and may be able to procure some donated materials for the project.  We do have some basic tools, but we currently do not have access to a power saw and a router. These tools could possibly be borrowed from Broadway Church, which is a huge supporter of CityReach.

Our next steps will be:

• design the box and the shelving
• make a list of materials and tools needed
• make a schedule for implementation
• come up with a plan to incorporate the children in the project

After visiting the site on Thursday, January 19th, 2012 our team is very excited to participate in this project. It will be a great chance for us to give back to our community!

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