Cashel Community School teacher Brendan Ryan is on his seventh Niall Mellon Township Trust Blitz. It's his fifth year taking along a small team of his sixth year students bringing up the total of Cashel Community School student blitzers between the ages of sixteen and nineteen to thirty four. Brendan is passionate about the work and that passion has permeated through the halls of the school. Seventeen year old Roisin Trehy has wanted to come on this trip since she was a first year student and she is one of seven students who won their place on the Witsand blitz. Every year so many kids want to go and with only six places it's an achievement simply to be chosen. Although places are limited the Niall Mellon Township Trust building blitzes have become a part of the school's identity and spirit over the years. Every student becomes involved in fundraising and each year when their peers return from a trip of a lifetime the informal education they pass on to others in the corridors is incalculable. Parents too have noticed a change in their teenagers, in the months that follow they display a new maturity and appreciation. This year Brendan and fellow teacher and first time blitzer Tracy Gibson are chaperoning students, Ereena Fryday, Roisin Trehy, Mark O'Brien, Rachel Fahy, Paddy Morrissey and Thomas Mulcahy. Jonathan Grogan has also joined them having had to defer his place from last year when 2 weeks before last year's Wallacedene blitz he broke his ankle playing hurley. Now a law and accounting student in the University Of Limerick he was determined to take his place on this trip and fortunately he received support from his lecturers. The shack visit was shocking despite the photos that line the school walls, once inside the pictures come alive and being confronted with real people, real lives, real suffering and real consequences leaves a lasting impression. Home Economics teacher Tracy was blown away by the cleanliness of the shack despite the rain ingress and the rotting cardboard interior walls and the family home reminded Paddy Morrissey of a tree house he built when he was 10. The crèche visit was difficult, grown men were shook and fighting emotion in the presence of babies lined up and sleeping on a hard, cold, dirty ground. Spurred on by their visits, days are spent, painting, block laying, varnishing and labouring. The sun is roaring hot and these teens have never worked harder nor have they been happier to do so. Seventy seven year old Vivian Rynne has seen all the Cashel students come and go over the years. He's the first on the Emerald Green Team to welcome the teens, teach them what he knows and reminisce about past students. Age means nothing on a township building site, the banter between teams and the county rivalry makes the time pass by quickly but all are determined to soak in every moment of this experience before returning home with open eyes and a fresh perspective.