Calling All Teachers + Students in Grades 4, 5, and 6

Still fresh with the excitement of celebrating the 2022 Grade 4 Grand Prize Winner in Vancouver, we are overjoyed to be hearing from more and more teachers about their desire to participate in The Meaning of Home.

For 22 years, Sagen has been the lead sponsor of The Meaning of Home contest that invites Grades 4, 5, and 6 students from across Canada to submit a written poem or essay in English or French, explaining what home means to them. Sagen donates $10 for every submission to local Habitats and awards $30,000 for each Grand Prize winner from every grade and $10,000 for runners up from each grade to their local Habitat affiliate.

In a Burnaby park, under the warm October sun, we celebrated John W. Lam for his heartfelt composition, “My Home is Made with Love.” John was presented with a new iPad, Habitat Greater Vancouver was presented with $30,000 by Sagen representatives Anoop Sihra and Vivi Saddik and John’s classmates enjoyed a pizza party. We were joined by Bryan Tamayo from Home Trust, another sponsor, along with Jack Shaw and Shilo Darling, representatives from Habitat Canada.

John is homeschooled but has a class he attends once a week. His mother found out about the competition and encouraged John to write something.

“Writing my poem was hard at first, but it got more fun,” said John. “I read a book about a man living under a bridge and I also went to an art museum. Those ideas of home and images helped me get ideas too. I think home can be a place, people, or a feeling.”

This contest offers a unique and meaningful way to get children involved in creative writing and to learn about giving back in their community. In the last couple of years, it is interesting to see how the concept of home has taken on several new meanings as for many it became the workspace, the school, and everything in between.

While the 2023 contest officially opens January 9 for submissions, teachers can already download the education module for lesson plans available at www.meaningofhome.ca This site also highlights the important dates – contest closes February 24, with winners announced in May 2023 and allows teachers to register. You can find all the 2022 entries here.

In 2022, a record number of submissions to this contest raised $311,000 nationally for Habitat for Humanity. Over 13,000 students entered, beating last year’s record by more than 1,000 entries.

“We could not be more proud that this contest continues to grow year over year,” said Stuart Levings, President and CEO of Sagen. “Children across Canada are provided the unique opportunity to be a part of something so important on a national scale while helping their local community at the same time, all with a short poem or essay.”

Stephani Baker, Vice President Construction at Habitat for Humanity agrees. “It is heartwarming to witness the incredible engagement from the young people in our community who reflected openly on what home truly means. Their innocent and pure perspective is what we hope for all children in Greater Vancouver. Having John be chosen from amongst so many incredible entries is outstanding and the winning grant will help ensure that we are able to continue our mission to address the affordable housing shortage in our city.”

President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Canada, Julia Deans wholeheartedly supports this writing exercise. “Having a decent and affordable home is foundational to building a better life. I’m reminded of that when I read the words these young people have written about what home means to them. Words like safe, love, community, heart. and memories – that’s what home should mean to every child in Canada and that’s why we continue building and advocating for more affordable housing and homeownership.”

For John, his win was a pretty big deal. “I was surprised when I won,” he said. “I was happy too because $30,000 is a lot of money to buy more supplies to build more houses.”

As Habitat Greater Vancouver prepares to begin their largest build in Coquitlam, John couldn’t be more accurate.

When asked about entering the contest again, John admitted, “I'm not sure yet if I'll write another poem this year ... but every entry raises money to help even more, so maybe I will.”

Congratulations again, John! We hope all the teachers out there agree that it is a worthwhile cause with meaningful outcomes. Afterall, the opportunity for reflection and creativity is priceless – and has the power to change lives. Learn more at www.meaningofhome.ca or request teacher toolkits at reception@habitatgv.ca