Renée Andor
Black Press
Habitat for Humanity Vancouver Island North is looking for Campbell River women to form the city’s first ever Women Build team.
The program has already begun in the Comox Valley and the Women Build team there has just launched a new fundraising initiative — and it’s a ‘wonky’ one.
Some members of the Comox Valley women-only team built a children’s playhouse to raffle off, which it very aptly dubbed Wonky House.
“It’s called a Wonky House because every wall, window, roof, everything is off-kilter on purpose,” explained Women Build coordinator Cristi Sacht with a grin, adding Habitat for Humanity Vancouver Island North’s (VIN) build co-ordinator Peter Sanderson gave the women a hand because they didn’t have building experience. “It was a nightmare to try to build because nothing’s square and so we literally were flying by the seat of our pants and of course, none of us have technically built anything, so it was a really great exercise for us to kind of get in there, use the tools.”
The carpentry practice will come in handy because not only are these women responsible for raising $100,000, but they are also responsible for building half of one of three duplexes in Habitat for Humanity VIN’s housing project to help local families obtain their own homes.
The Wonky House is not gender specific, and features strange angles with the windows, walls and roofline set askew.
Local artist Kelly Sart painted butterflies, flowers and bees on the walls on the inside with a chalkboard painted blue sky background so kids can draw on the walls with chalk.
Raffle tickets for the house are a minimum $5 donation and people can check out the house at various community events around the Valley.
According to Sacht, tickets will be available until the Women Build team dedicates its house to the new homeowner, which will likely be next Mother’s Day.
Five sub-teams of women have signed up for the Women Build team, and about $22,000 has been raised. Sacht said the teams are doing well, but she would like to see a total of 10 teams on board with a total of 200 women.
Teams should be about 10 or more women, but some are bigger; right now about 100 women are involved in the project, and Sacht wants to get that number to 200.
She’s looking for women from Campbell River to participate in Habitat for Humanity projects here and she’s also looking for more corporate teams.
For more information, or to start a team contact Cristi Sacht at cristi@elementalenergyadvisors.ca