Sunday, Aug. 14, will be a milestone day for Habitat for Humanity Sunshine Coast.
Starting at 2 p.m., Habitat will hold an official ground breaking ceremony and celebration at the North Road lot in Gibsons.Habitat also plans to introduce the selected family who will live in Habitat's first home on the Coast.
After ups and downs and many trials and tribulations, the local Habitat affiliate is now well established.
"In the two years since the conception of the organization, we have struggled with all the usual trials and tribulations of a non-profit start-up," said Dan Fivehouse, spokesperson for the communication committee.
"We have now reached a point where the necessary paperwork is just about complete, there is stability in leadership and the beginnings of a committee system that is exhibiting independent responsibility."
During the past six months, there have been fundamental changes within the organizational structures of both the national and international organizations.
Most obvious is the announcement in May of the re-branding of Habitat International through a comprehensive corporate identity program. This manifests itself at the local level by means of a new logo and colour scheme. The board of the national organization, which consisted of many corporate representatives, was replaced with a board drawn from within the organization. One of the local founding members, Ed Hawkins of Ruby Lake, was elected to that body at the national AGM in May.
Locally, Habitat is currently pursuing three reliable means of fund-raising.
Once a year or so Habitat holds a raffle. Last year the prize was a children's playhouse built for Habitat by the trades entry students at Capilano College as a class project. This year it is a greenhouse donated by Canadian Tire. The draw will take place at Hackett Park in Sechelt at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 7.
Habitat has also benefitted from a realtors challenge that has subscribing agents donating a portion of their transaction fees to Habitat.
"Our biggest fundraising project by far is recycling returnables collected primarily at the regional district depots in Sechelt and Gibsons," said Fivehouse. "Last autumn, ALCAN challenged Habitat affiliates to recycle aluminum cans by offering to match our receipts dollar-for-dollar. In our case, this added roughly $930 to our treasury. In addition, they proposed a contest for most cans recycled and most cans per capita. We won in this category and the prize was $60,000 - the estimated cost of constructing a 1,000 square foot starter home in Canada. This contest runs for two more years, and we are determined to win at least once more."
Ground clearing has already started at the North Road site in preparation for construction.
The trades entry students of Cap College framed the skeleton for the first house during the spring semester at the school district site on Trout Lake Road above Halfmoon Bay. The house will be disassembled, moved to North Road and placed on a foundation where the students will reconstruct and expand the initial work. Once the basic plumbing and electrical is in place on the first floor, Habitat volunteers will take over construction.
Habitat expects to have a family installed in their home before winter.
Habitat is also looking at acquiring a piece of property in Sechelt on Reef Road.
At the July 20 meeting of council, Sechelt councillors gave first reading to a rezoning bylaw for the property.
The item will now go out to public hearing, which will give the public a chance to comment on the proposal, before it goes back to council for further discussion.
