After a successful trip to Vanuatu, during which a school classroom was built in just four days, Volunteer Build is gearing up to do it again - this time, it’s a home in Mexico. Pāpāmoa woman Diana Judge, founder of Volunteer Build, says this trip of volunteers will build a house for a family in Tijuana.

Diana Judge is doing her part to help the Port Vila community by taking her charity organisation, Volunteer Build, back to Vanuatu in August to build a second classroom for the V2 Life School, which continues to outgrow its facilities.

Volunteers often ask if they can take small gifts to a community they’re working in as an extra way of helping those in need. But in communities with little to no resources, many of the items you would like to gift may be of no use. Your generosity may also have the...

                                                                    Two teams of keen Kiwi volunteers are heading to Vanuatu this July to build a classroom that will double as a cyclone evacuation centre. It's been a long time since organisation Volunteer Build has been able to build in countries needing homes or schools, says Tauranga resident and VB founder Diana Judge.

Travel insurance is often one of those red-tape items that no-one wants to organise or pay for. But is it really necessary? Absolutely. It’s like having house insurance or a pre-nup – no-one expects their house to burn down or to get divorced, but if the worst...

Unsure what to pack for a country you’ve never visited before and a trip like no other? Never fear… we’ll provide a packing checklist for you but here are some additional tips on how to pack wisely so you’re never caught out. Share the load If you’re travelling as a...

Its been a really exciting week for us this week.  We've launched our new website at www.volunteerbuild.com and changed our trading name to Volunteer Build.  Our legal name is still Break Free Expeditions Ltd but we thought that Volunteer Build tells everyone better what we do. We hope you like it!

It’s a new year, a new decade and the perfect time to make some plans to do some things that really count! There’s nothing quite as personally rewarding as pushing yourself out of your comfort zone on a volunteer trip overseas. Here are 10 reasons why you should take...

In New Zealand vaccination against common illnesses such as measles, chicken pox, diphtheria, polio, hepatitis and the flu can be a contentious topic. It’s a personal choice and one some people choose not to make for a number of reasons; some quite justifiably and...

The “eye-opening and rewarding experience” changed Art’s perspective on life. It was a reminder “that happiness is not found in money and things, but in health and family.” When the opportunity arose to help out with Volunteer Build, a charity who provides homes for poverty-stricken families, Art Green jumped at the chance.

An organised team of volunteers from Papamoa have returned from Vanuatu after last week accomplishing four post-cyclone construction projects in five days. The team of 32 completed $50,000 worth of projects, including a concrete block home for a family whose tin shack was blown away in the cyclone and community toilets for a village of 200...

4th August 2010 - Courtney Tilby is a girlie girl who likes netball and wants to be a fashion designer.  But the Tauranga Girls College pupil will swap her sewing machine for a paintbrush and hammer in September when she travels to Mexico on a 3-week building trip.

17th June 2012 - Nearly $1800 was raised to help build houses for the homeless in Cambodia at this week’s massive $2 clothing sale in Mount Maunganui.

They’ll probably make a movie about Diana Judge one day. The plot outline? High-flying Kiwi Global Brand Manager for Shell Oil based in North America, has a ‘slum-dog millionaire’ moment while on business in India and gives up her lucrative lifestyle to establish an...

Rugby players, builders, and volunteers will descend on Fiji, just a week after Cyclone Winston devastated the country, to build a new dorm for a rugby academy for at-risk boys. Tauranga builder Peter Scott, along with former New Zealand rugby sevens representative...

Four Tauranga women are among an all-girl group heading to Mexico next month to build a house for a poverty-stricken single mother and her three children. The trip is run through charity Breakfree Expeditions, fronted by Tauranga woman Diana Judge, who met with the four women this week to hand over their all-important and ever-feminine pink tool belts...

A high power global marketing executive leaves Shell oil to serve the poorest of the poor - but with a twist! Hear the story of Diana Judge today as she chats with Clayton. Follow the story of Diana from Shell to touring with a Rock Band and now running volun-tourism...