Simpson Strong-Tie, the industry leader in engineered structural connectors and building solutions, joined forces with Habitat for Humanity to send five company employees to help with a week-long Global Village build in the town of Amarante, Portugal, this past April.

The group of employees was originally scheduled to work on a Habitat project in Nepal late last year as part of Habitat’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, but due to signing of a new constitution and civil unrest in the country, the project was canceled. As of result, the company reallocated the funds to Habitat’s Global Village Program, allowing these employees to help renovate and remodel the older home of a widowed mother and daughter living in the countryside of northern Portugal.

The group, along with five other volunteers from the U.S., was the first to start work on the 30-plus year-old home. They spent the week completing a number of renovations, including cutting two new doorways into the granite walls, leveling out the floors, blocking and replacing two doorways, removing paint and concrete from the granite, removing a wood stove pipe, patching holes and other openings, and digging a ditch for the waste lines.

“One of the core principles of our company founder Barc Simpson is our responsibility as a company and as individuals to give back to those less fortunate,” said Simpson Strong-Tie CEO Karen Colonias. “It is a privilege to have our employees live out this core value and help those in need all across the world.”

Simpson Strong-Tie is proud to support this project as a national partner of Habitat for Humanity, along with other initiatives including Habitat Strong. For more information about the company’s work with Habitat, visit strongtie.com/about/habitat.