The Virden Chapter of Habitat for Humanity are in full swing with hammers, saws and measuring tapes!  The committee and volunteers started the actual construction of the new home in mid-May, and by the end of last week they were well on their way to raising the roof!

"We started the build on May 13th, which was a Monday, and on Tuesday it poured rain, Wednesday we worked, and Thursday I can't remember if we worked the whole day, but Friday we worked only half the day," explains Chairperson of the Virden Chapter, Karen McKinnon.  "By that time, we had all the outside walls up!"

"Since then, we have been doing the framing of the rooms of the basement and that is now totally done, and quite a bit of the framing on the upstairs level has been done."

By the end of last week, the crew had built the roof on the ground and sheeted it with plywood. And if all went according to plan, the roof will have been raised this Monday at their 615 Nelson Street West location!

The Virden team has built more Habitat homes per capita than any other town in Manitoba, this being their 5th.  That is certainly something to be proud of!

McKinnon says they have their core group of volunteers who have worked steadily right from the beginning, and they've had members from the local fire department invest their time and energy on the project, and members from different organizations will be coming to help out later this summer. However, they're always looking for more volunteers as it takes many hands to make the work light. 

"Volunteering at a Habitat site is a great experience," shares McKinnon. "It's very enjoyable, and it's also great community service! We work from 9am to 4pm with coffee breaks in the morning and the afternoon, and lunch off."

"We welcome anyone who wants to come out and help us, we welcome them at any time," she adds. "We also welcome muffins, so anyone who wants to bake muffins for our volunteers for our coffee breaks, we would welcome that as well!"

The Habitat for Humanity model is to help families become homeowners, this through their specific programs that requires the new homeowners to invest 500 hours of 'sweat equity' into the building of their new home. McKinnon says their homeowner family is doing very well at reaching that quota even though 500 hours can seem very daunting.

"He will most likely get most of his hours in at the build site over the summer months, but if anyone has anything that they would like him to help with as a volunteer community-wise, that would be helpful," she adds.

Every Habitat project becomes a community event in celebration of a family working together with their fellow residents to build their home.  Each project also requires raising funds to help offset the cost of the project. Helping each other builds community and helping another family become a homeowner strengthens that community.

Please listen to more with Karen McKinnon below as she shares more details on the Habitat for Humanity project in Virden.

For more information on volunteering time, energy and muffins, please call Karen at 204-748-3872.  Do visit their website page HERE, and their Facebook page HERE!