A Sense of Community and Holiday Spirit at West Coast Women's Show
Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver is grateful to the organizers of this year’s West Coast Women’s Show for inviting us to participate in their annual event at Tradex in Abbotsford on October 14-16. The “Ultimate Girls Day Out” event was an opportunity for us to showcase who we are, what we do and the impact we make in our communities every day.
When visitors stopped by our booth, they were greeted by a Habitat team of volunteers, staff and partner families. They learned about what donations we accept and what items we sell at our Restores. By showcasing how a door can be repurposed and used as wainscotting on a living-room wall, we demonstrated how easy it is to use old items in new ways and keep them out of the landfills. We were also excited to talk about our many volunteer opportunities available at our Restores and on our building sites. One opportunity that was of interest to many of the guests was Women Build, where individual or groups of women friends or colleagues, can sign-up for a Build Day. Kicking off on International Women’s Day, this is an amazing way for women to raise funds, gain construction skills and support women and their children by providing access to safe and affordable housing.
Our Partner Families from Mission and Richmond talked about how they became a partner family, what it’s like to live in a Habitat community and what the application process is like.
Fetiya and her son Bilal moved into their Richmond home in June and they enjoyed being at the show, meeting people from all over Vancouver and spending some time with long time Habitat volunteer Wanda.
Nadia, our Senior Restore Manager in Abbotsford, joined forces with Mission family partners Niki, Naomi and Nicky to encourage everyone to get into the holiday spirit by purchasing a Christmas tree. What makes these trees unique is they are built out of repurposed pallet wood by a team of volunteers. These trees were created by a team from Gowlings and Modern Niagara, who signed up for a Build Day in October. Available in 3 different sizes, our trees sold out at the event, but more are available at our Abbotsford Restore so be sure to check them out – Check it out here
We also talked about our next project, where we will be building 42 homes in the Burke Mountain area of Coquitlam. Anyone who donated at the show were able to write a greeting and sign their name on a piece of wood that will go into the construction of a home for a new family. Visitors were invited to enjoy a cookie baked by one of our volunteers and decorated by our partner families. To encourage guests to visit our Restores and thank them for their interest, we also provided a 30% coupon for guests to use at one of our 6 Restores throughout the Lower Mainland.
We hope everyone left the West Coast Women’s Show with an appreciation of what Habitat for Humanity does in their own community and encouraged them to join us in fulfilling our mission to provide safe and affordable housing. To learn more about participating in Women Build, donating to Habitat for Humanity or applying to become a Partner Family, visit our website at www.habitatgv.ca.
