Building Blitz 2023
Mellon Educate is an Irish-based African development charity founded by developer & philanthropist Niall Mellon in 2002 and established as a charitable company in 2004. Thanks to the enormous collective effort of our volunteers, in conjunction with the South African government, has built houses for 175,000 homeless people in South Africa’s poorest townships. This was only possible because ordinary people took selfless action to do something truly extraordinary, lend a helping hand on our annual “building blitz” in South Africa. In 2012, we proudly celebrated a milestone achievement for the charity with 25,000 houses completed.
A Mellon Educate ‘Building Blitz’ will change your life. More importantly, it will change the lives of thousands of impoverished children who desperately need your help. It is a one-week opportunity of a lifetime to meet people just like you – people from all walks of life who want to make a difference. Nelson Mandela once described the work of Mellon Educate as “inspirational”. It is the volunteers who make it so.
To go on a Building Blitz, you have to fundraise. It sounds daunting but remember, thousands of people have hit this target before. Since 2003 we have had thousands of volunteers from Ireland, South Africa, the UK, and the US. Many have done so repeatedly after being bitten by the blitz bug! And we’re here to help you make it, with fundraising tips and advice, mentoring and an incredible support network provided by the thousands of like-minded individuals who already walked in your shoes.
In 2013, deep in the Irish recession, the charity redoubled its commitments to those less fortunate in Africa, pledging a 10-year education development programme to provide better education to more than 100,000 African children. A highly ambitious target in co-operation with local community school collaboration, Mellon Educate has already extended educational access and standards of education for over 50,000 primary school children aged between 4 and 12 in Kenya & South Africa. In 2014, due to phenomenal demand and a willingness by our dedicated, loyal volunteers, Mellon Educate ran two building blitzes in the same year, one in the same township community where the charity first built homes in 2002, another to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela, building not one but two schools in his Eastern Cape homelands on Mthatha, Qunu.