What Meaning of Home Contest has meant to HFHWC

It has been nearly one year since an inspired, opportunistic and creative grade-six student wrote an short story that captured a community and an organization. At the time she put pen to paper, Karson Simpson could never have imagined the impact she would have on the life of a mother of two daughters.

It has been well-documented that this intelligent young woman won the Genworth Financial Canada - Meaning of Home Writing Contest back in January of this year, but what may not be as well known is that her grand prize donation of $60,000 would help the Women Build of Habitat for Humanity Wellington County build a home for Kiran and her two daughters.

The Meaning of Home Writing Contest is back in 2011. One student will effect one Habitat for Humanity affiliate which will effect one community which will ultimately effect the lives of a deserving family. With that said, Some fantastically interesting news has been implemented by Genworth Financial with small changes to their contest. All Habitat for Humanity affiliates and communities will feel a percentage of the overwhelming effect this contest has had on our community and our affiliate as ALL eligible entries will equal in a $5.00 donation to the Habitat for Humanity in their community! If the 6,000 eligible entries are reached it will equal in a $30,000 donation to Habitat for Humanity!
Here are some other need to knows:

What you need to remember:

·         The contest runs October 3 to November 14

·         The essays must be 50 to 300 words long (Shorter essays – easier for the kids)

·         Every entry makes a difference: $5 goes to the local Habitat Affiliate for each eligible entry

·         Entries can be mailed in or submitted electronically

·         You can download a poster from the site here

What else is new and exciting:

There will be a book!  The Meaning of Home will be published in February 2012, featuring the winning essays of the first 5 years of the contest.  Proceeds will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

Women Build Words to YOU



August 31, 2011

Dear You

     As the summer winds down, so does my time building ‘the house’. It has been a most rewarding experience and one I would repeat again if given the opportunity. Most of the women I worked with, signed up wondering if they had what it takes to build a house. In fact, one lady I worked with scoped out the hardware stores on her way to the site in case she broke something and had to quickly dash out on her lunch hour to replace it! I met so many wonderful people, developed some new skills  and learned a lot about Habitat for Humanity                 

     During my time ‘on site’, I saw many postitive qualities emerge from the people I worked with. Humour was a big one and got us through many frustrating situations. I saw great patience from the site supervisor who each day saw a brand new crew of women and had to break down each task into manageable chunks and then explain it all over again in a different way when she saw that we really didn’t know what she was talking about. It reminded me of getting a brand new Grade 1 class each and every day. Yikes!!  I saw perseverence from women who were bound and determined to ‘get it done’ no matter what. I saw courage from women who conquered their fear of heights (well, maybe not conquered) and climbed ladders they probably didn’t want to climb but did because they were so focussed on the task at hand. But mostly, I saw love. The community came together to support Kiran and her two daughters and give them a house to make into a home. Each day lunch was provided by businesses in our community and they were fantastic!  It wasn’t all work either. We had massages, yoga and tai chi lessons from people who volunteered their time for us, the workers.                                   

                           

Your support helped make all this possible. Your gift helped  buy (just for an example):

$25.00 = a bundle of roof shingles

$50.00 = 50lb box of nails (and we use a LOT!)

$100.00 = 2 interior doors

So, I want to THANK  YOU once again for supporting me in this project. I never in a million years thought I would need to know how to build and ‘un-build’ scaffolding or a bulkhead. Right now, the drywall is being installed and it is beginning to look more and more like a house. I asked Sharon our supervisor the other day if Kiran was getting excited and she said she didn’t think her smile could get any bigger. So on behalf of Kiran, her daughters and myself, I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Day 55 (Goal to be finished by end of October) 

Why Adopt-A-Week or Day

The Habitat for Humanity Wellington County Adopt-A-Day and Adopt-A-Week programs have garnered recent buzz in the community. Organization from across Guelph & Wellington County have expressed interest in adopting our build site for a day or week in order to capitalize on the ultimate team-building experience.

In fact we'd like to congratulate Tim Horton's Distribution in Guelph for becoming the FIRST Adopt-A-Week participants! They worked extremely hard to fundraise the $5,000 and even though their organization is going through a difficult transition period, they are enjoying the fruits of their labour on-site for the week of September 26th. The best thing about it, in a few months, our Partner Family will be enjoying a brand new home because of the dedication of ALL our Adopt-A-Day/Week teams!

That said, there are still plenty of opportunities to adopt the 28 Huron St. site before completion in January. If fundraising the $1,500 or $5,000 is a significant road block, don't worry, the staff of Habitat Wellington County has plenty of ideas! So gather the troops and join us on site this year or next year and also join the following fabulous Adopt-A-Day/Week teams:

• RNAO/ONA
• Terra View
• Maxxam
• Cascade Canada
• Tim Horton's Distribution TDL
• RBC
• RLB
• Smith Valeriote
• RWDI
• OSSTF - Educational Assistants
• Accu-Link Call Centres

In fact, here are some inspirational words from an RWDI team member...

Saturday, September 17, 2011

It was a rainy day... no sorry, that's a different story!

The setting:  The temperature is 4 degrees, and we're dressed in layers.  It's 8:00 am and we're on our first cup of morning coffee/tea.  We arrive at the partially built duplex on Huron Street, and meet our build leader John for the first time.  He is an experienced framer, and we learn by the end of the day - a very patient man :o)

The foundation is poured, and the outside walls are already up.  We've been told we will be framing interior walls - whatever that means!

We gear up - donning our Habitat for Humanity T-shirts, tool belts, work boots and hard hats - we're stylin' now!  Oh gee Mr. Soligo, there's only a Pink Women's large t-shirt left over, you'll have to wear that - the early male birds got the white ones!  You get to be in our girl's club!

And so the learning begins:  John (Build Leader) explained the safety basics to us; then we dove right in to learning how to frame a house - exciting!  Who knew Xiangdong Du was a master at all things tool related!  Picture this:  Tim the Tool Man Taylor saying More Power!  Then insert Xiangdong Du's face instead of Tim's - he was the tool master for the day!

We framed the long interior wall between the two homes, with ease.  We were learning quickly, and understood the why's and how's of this fine trade.  Now with that being said - add 6 to 8 engineers to the mix - and you've got straight lines, down to the millimeter! 

The sun decided to join us around 11:00 am and the layers of clothing began to be shed, we were getting down to just our t-shirts now; working hard, and having fun.  Lunch was provided by the HFH group:  Topper's Pizza, fruit, cookies and drinks.  Melissa did a Tim Horton's run so we could get ready for the second half of our 8 hour shift.

Next we added the walls for the garages on each of the houses - we were motoring (or framing?)!  There was no stopping us now!  Not only did the coffee and lunch fuel us, but just knowing we were helping to build not just one, but two homes for 2 families in Guelph, our city, our community!  And there's not much that can top that feeling.

The pictures (which can be seen under the pictures library) tell their own stories - of concentration, learning, and fun!  Enjoy and please do come out for the next RWDI Build Day with Habitat for Humanity!  It's an awesome , fun, team building experience, and you get to help someone else in the process!

Habitat Team, Fall 2011

Melissa Annett
Xiangdong Du
Claire Finoro
Tammy Gazzola
Mike Kennedy
Kat Klaassen (daughter of Peter Klaassen)
Johnny Lepage (son of Mike Lepage)
Mike Lepage
Mike & Rose Soligo
Rob Tonin
Ujjwal Verma

Bagot St. Retrospective

Construction of semi-detached home at 133 & 135 Bagot St. began on August 30th, 2010. The home was built for two deserving and grateful families, the McParland family and Blair family. Through the dedication of our committed volunteers, accumulating many build hours and eating several delicious A&W/Boston Pizza/Zen Gardens sponsored lunches, we were able to move our respective families into their homes for the holiday season.

This would also be the inaugural project of Women Build. The Women Build team displayed perseverance after their initial lot at 439 York Rd. (their current build site) was delayed until 2011. They bonded as a unit and joined general build volunteers to complete the beautiful Bagot St. homes. Despite the fork in the road the Women Builders proved, "They'd rather build it than clean it".

The McParland and Blair families are another story. They were as committed and passionate as any partner family could be! Those volunteers that worked on the Bagot St. homes became extremely familiar with Travis, Cate and Heather over the sixteen-week period. Many of our volunteers gushed over the gratefulness exemplified by Travis as he thanked every single volunteer at the end each work day he participated.
Heather, the recipient of the Women Build home, developed a strong relationship with the Women Builders that she built alongside.

One year later, we've started our recent build at 28 Huron St. We hope by this time in 2012 we can share similar stories of the committed volunteers, wonderful families and generous sponsors (Whirlpool Canada)!

Thank you Guelph!

Women Builders Blogging!

Hey there,

Just a little update on the house. I volunteered for the build on Saturday and had a blast again as usual! I hadn't been on site in a while and the house looked amazing! It's really starting to feel like home and it's nice when you can see that all the odd jobs you're doing are really making an impact.

It's amazing how much goes into a building a house and working on the build for a day really makes you understand where the expression "blood, sweat and tears" comes from, however all the build volunteers are amazing and we usually know a lot about each other at the end of the day.

When I began the build, I was really nervous because I'm not handy at all. I'm quite the whirlwind of activity and my attempts at home improvement consist of hanging pictures by eyeball! When I told my friends and family I was going to volunteer this year, they were very surprised and many were worried for my safety, however I am living proof that anyone can join the build and have a blast! My first day on the build I was using a sledgehammer and a table saw and having a blast. In fact, I liked the table saw so much I did all the cuts all day! The nice thing about Habitat is that there is a mix of experience and a lot of patience. You learn some awesome (and handy) skills while volunteering. So, if you're a klutz like me, don't be afraid to come out and do some good for someone else.

Speaking of which, I had the chance to speak to the homeowner on Saturday and she told me her girls were so excited to have their own rooms. That was the only thanks I needed!

2011 My Neighbour's Home - A Whirlpool Canada Production

Well Guelph, it's that time again for Habitat for Humanity Wellington County. We are asking all our volunteers to dust off their steel toe boats and shine up their hammers because another build is right around the corner. That corner being at Elizabeth St. and Huron St.

The 2011 My Neighbour's Home project will be at 28 Huron St. This will be a semi-detached home build that will be starting in the next couple weeks (as of August 15th). By the end of the year, we'll hand over keys to TWO families in the hope of a brighter future.

With that said, this home build would not be possible without the generous donation of Whirlpool Canada. Whirlpool donates an energy efficient refrigerator and range stove to every Habitat home build throughout North America in combination to the Habitat for Humanity home they sponsor in Canada every year. In fact, Guelph is not an unfamiliar community to Whirlpool Canada as this will be their 3rd, yes THIRD Habitat sponsored home built in Guelph. Their first project in Guelph on Morris St. was in 2007 with the second being two years later on Johnston St. in 2009. The appliance manufacturing juggernaut doesn't stop their involvement at the cutting of a cheque, similar to their previous home sponsoring endeavours, Whirlpool Canada will be contributing a volunteer army to the build site. In fact, because Whirlpool Canada is celebrating their 100th Anniversary, their committed to compiling their largest volunteer task force to date; 200 Whirlpool Canada employees will be volunteering for this home project.

Another significant sponsor of this semi-detached home is the Kortright Presbyterian Church. Their significant contribution also makes this home build a reality rather than a pipedream. The Kortright Presbyterian Church led by Senior Minister Alex MacLeod. Irene Light is the Chair of this Faith Build Committee. Check out our Volunteer Hub on volunteer shifts that are available or how your congregation can get involved.

General volunteer shifts will be open to the public at the end of September (after the Whirlpool Canada volunteer army is done kicking butt!), with the exception of some weekends through September that are open. Check out all the available shifts and register (if you're not a registered volunteer yet) right here! It's promising to be an interesting project with several organizations throughout the community extremely interested in getting out of the office and getting into framing, roofing and drywalling. Our Adopt-A-Week/Day programs allows you to do just that! If you are considering a team building exercise for your staff, fellow colleagues or clients, this experience will knock your socks off! It's also a great idea for birthday parties and celebrations!

Fundraising the amounts of the Adopt-A-Week/Day are easy! Utilize our online fundraising software and use Facebook to your advantage. Or, you could run a 3rd party fundraiser at your factory/office/home. Weeks and Days are being filled up as this is typed but you still have time to get your squad in for a week or day. One simple email and we'll get you booked! Here are some teams ready to kick some butt on site:

• Tim Horton's Distribution Group
• OSSTFEA
• Smith Valeriote Law Firm LLP
• Maxxam
• RWDI

You can be part of the 2011 My Neighbour's Home, it's something you don't want to miss!

My Neighbour's Home Fundraising

Support HFHWC & Whirlpool Canada My Neighbour's Home 2011 Project in Guelph