The following release was submitted by Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat for Humanity Prince Edward Hastings (Habitat PEH) has a long-standing tradition of building affordable homes for hard-working families in our community – 32 homes over the past 30 years. This past Saturday, October 19, the local Habitat PEH affiliate launched a new initiative, the Hammering Hope Shed Builds, taking the place of the prior Corporate Build Days which were a way of raising funds and engaging members of the community while they assisted with local home build projects.
Chris Ellerton, Director of Construction for Habitat PEH, is behind the planning and launch of Hammering Hope and is pleased with the interest in both building the sheds as well as the number of donors who have provided supplies to the shed project. “Our goal was to have 12 donors come out and help us complete a 10’ x 10’ shed, and we were able to do that with the support of donated materials from several local and national donors, including Battlefield Equipment Rentals, Foxboro Fasteners, Milwaukee Tools, Rona Trenton and Vanderlaan Building Supplies. Food and coffee kept the shed-building crew well fed with the support of Starbucks Trenton and Firehouse Subs. Overall, our initial launch was a great success and an impressive start to the Hammering Hope project.”
Once completed, the sheds will be raffled, auctioned or sold by Habitat PEH to raise funds in support of their construction of homes for local, hard-working families who will become Habitat homeowners. The shed which was built this past weekend is a garden-style shed and there are already a number of potential buyers lined up.
Hazzem Koudsi, CEO of Habitat PEH noted, “While the construction of a shed may not seem a usual step toward building full-scale homes for Habitat PEH, the Hammering Hope hed projects will provide ongoing funds which allow us to build homes in our community. It is also an excellent opportunity for our community partners and volunteers to participate in the construction of the sheds as a team-building exercise and to support the work we do through sponsorships and donation of supplies for the sheds. Our volunteers had a lot of fun swinging hammers for the first time in a long time.”
The future plans for Hammering Hope Shed Builds include some friendly rivalry between local service agencies, first-responder groups and, potentially, corporate build days which will encourage some competition between the groups, both in fundraising efforts and the overall results of the sheds built.
Habitat PEH’s mission is to bring communities together to help families build strength, stability, self-reliance through affordable home ownership. We believe everyone deserves a safe and decent place to live, and every day we take action to help achieve that goal. Habitat for Humanity Canada was founded in 1985, and Prince Edwards-Hastings Habitat for Humanity was formed in 1994 and began operations 1995.
