A Few Unpleasant Numbers
Every once in a while I wax eloquent about giving gifts with meaning, and my suggestions are often for items like livestock to be sent to a third world family through an agency such as "Canadian Food for the Hungry International". Today, I'd like to stay a little closer to home, if I may.
Home for me is Toronto, where these numbers are the sad truth. Over 190,000 kids here live in poverty. Over 6,000 kids a year spend at least one night in a shelter. 1 in 4 Torontonians subsist below the poverty line. These are the numbers, in fact, that inspired the Toronto Daily Star newspaper to bestow the name of "Canada's Poverty Capital" on my hometown. If it's your hometown, too, and you have a loonie or two to spare, you might be interested in making your gift with a difference to Habitat for Humanity, Toronto. Dollars and cents aren't the only way you can give here, however, so if you're short on cash but have some time on your hands, these people still have a way for you to make a difference in people's lives.
You can visit their website or give them a call at 416-755-7353 to get details. Be sure to ask about their upcoming events that include a Polar Bear Dip on January 1. 2008 and a Valentine's Singles Build on February 9, 2008, among other things. There's also an upcoming "Women Build" launch in March. Each year, Habitat builds 150 Women Build homes around the world, and this year, Toronto's joining in with plans to construct 10 homes here with the expertise and volunteered time of women.
These people offer so many ways for you to give and they make them everything from fun to downright profitable. If you're about to tackle a reno project, getting ready to make over your castle, call the good folks at Habitat at 416-755-8023, and they'll come over to your digs for an on-site appraisal. If you what you have fills the bill for them, they'll take it for their ReStore. With one located on Bermondsey Road; one on Caledonia Road; and one on Queen Elizabeth Road, there's bound to be one not too far from you. They will take things you might not even think of giving, like door hinges! If you have what they want, they can even schedule a volunteer salvage team to help you "tear down, rip out or load up your donation." As if that's not enough, they'll even issue tax receipts for fair market value for those door hinges!
Making a difference just doesn't get much easier than this.
Home for me is Toronto, where these numbers are the sad truth. Over 190,000 kids here live in poverty. Over 6,000 kids a year spend at least one night in a shelter. 1 in 4 Torontonians subsist below the poverty line. These are the numbers, in fact, that inspired the Toronto Daily Star newspaper to bestow the name of "Canada's Poverty Capital" on my hometown. If it's your hometown, too, and you have a loonie or two to spare, you might be interested in making your gift with a difference to Habitat for Humanity, Toronto. Dollars and cents aren't the only way you can give here, however, so if you're short on cash but have some time on your hands, these people still have a way for you to make a difference in people's lives.
You can visit their website or give them a call at 416-755-7353 to get details. Be sure to ask about their upcoming events that include a Polar Bear Dip on January 1. 2008 and a Valentine's Singles Build on February 9, 2008, among other things. There's also an upcoming "Women Build" launch in March. Each year, Habitat builds 150 Women Build homes around the world, and this year, Toronto's joining in with plans to construct 10 homes here with the expertise and volunteered time of women.
These people offer so many ways for you to give and they make them everything from fun to downright profitable. If you're about to tackle a reno project, getting ready to make over your castle, call the good folks at Habitat at 416-755-8023, and they'll come over to your digs for an on-site appraisal. If you what you have fills the bill for them, they'll take it for their ReStore. With one located on Bermondsey Road; one on Caledonia Road; and one on Queen Elizabeth Road, there's bound to be one not too far from you. They will take things you might not even think of giving, like door hinges! If you have what they want, they can even schedule a volunteer salvage team to help you "tear down, rip out or load up your donation." As if that's not enough, they'll even issue tax receipts for fair market value for those door hinges!
Making a difference just doesn't get much easier than this.
posted by aka.alias @ 6:07 PM 2 Comments 
2 Comments:
I love Habitat for Humanity. They truly do good work and when you support them, you know that your money or your time are going to somewhere good.
Amal
It is quite simple to volunteer for Habitat, whether for just a day, or a day every week unto forever.
Some of the most common questions I get asked as a Crew Leader for Habitat are "do I need previous building experience?" often asked with a mixture of hope and trepidation, and "how long of a commitment is required?"
You do not need any previous experience. Take it from a Crew Leader who had never previously picked up a hammer in her life, to becoming a Crew Leader in 11, arguably 9 months.
The other question, you can give one day, all the way up to every day, and there is every combination you can think of in between. Some people give two straight weeks one summer, some people give one day a week for one month, some people give 3 days a week for three years ... there really is no limit. It's a great place to be, and I would recommend spending some time there. Get to know the Block Leaders, the Site Supervisor, the Volunteer Co-ordinators, and the other volunteers on-site. You really can make some great connections.
There are so many ways to get involved, as well as those posted, you can volunteer at a Restore, you can also get involved in the gingerbread builds, or for hardcore builders and travelers, there is even Global Village, an affiliate of Habitat, that will allow volunteers (whether with Habitat or not) to raise some money, then go and travel to build homes. It's a great way to travel, especially if you don't really like the touristy thing.
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