Volunteers Help in Bilingual Barn Raising

A Minden Street resident will be a bit warmer this winter thanks to an age-old tradition restarted by a local organization.

Boston Climate Action Network (BostonCAN) is looking for volunteers to help weatherize the home of Yolanda Gonzalez on Minden Street next Saturday, Jan. 12, according to Rad Boston, a Boston-based news blog.

Volunteers will take part in what BostonCAN are calling a Green Minga, a community-based event in the style of a “barn-raising,” according to information on an application for the event. Minga is a Quechua word which means roughly a community or collaborative work,  according to organizer Loie Hayes. (Here's an explanation on the origin of the word.)

"We're trying to communicate that this is a bilingual event," organizer Loie Hayes told Jamaica Plain Patch.

This will be the fifth area BostonCAN barn raising event, and the first Green Minga. BostonCAN's four previous barn raising events were on Gayead and Sheridan streets and in Dorchester, Hayes said. She expected anywhere between 30 to 60 volunteers.

“By helping one family, everyone will also learn new weatherization skills that can easily be applied in their own homes,” according to the application.

Childcare will be provided and there will be a job fair following the event.

For more information or to volunteer, call organizer Loie Hayes at 857-544-6846 or Catalina Justiniano at 857-244-9104, according to Rad Boston.