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

When Amber Love found out she would be moving into a Habitat for Humanity home in Mission, she was overwhelmed with emotion.

“Amber was very keen, committed, and patient throughout the entire process,” said Lynne Stanger, Director of Family Services for Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver. “For her, finding a safe, bright, and secure stable home was exactly what she wanted to provide for her two boys. It is going to be a great new beginning for her family.”

Amber had already completed 25 hours of “sweat equity” prior to getting the call to say she had been accepted as a partner family. In order for us to assess a family’s commitment to our program, they must complete 25 service hours in one of our ReStores. Once accepted, they agree to completing another 500 hours.

Amber worked those first 25 hours in the Langley ReStore, dropping by to volunteer following shifts at work as a fitness trainer at the community centre. No stranger to hard work, she works six days per week with a couple of half days. On those shorter workdays, she put in five hours of volunteer time at the Langley ReStore and served more time on the weekend at the Abbotsford store. She also sacrificed some Saturdays of her paid work to volunteer at the ReStore, enabling her to power through her hours.

Amber says it seemed natural for her to serve her hours swiftly. She is highly organized and disciplined, sets goals, and achieves them. Homeownership has always been a dream, but with a single income, two young sons and skyrocketing prices in the Lower Mainland, she just needed a hand up.

Completing 500 hours may sound daunting, but this can be accomplished with some help and a little creativity.

In addition to shifts at our ReStores and on our build site, there are opportunities to volunteer at events, such as trade shows, and the BMO Marathon. Should a family require a babysitter while they are doing their volunteer hours, those hours also count toward their total hours. Family partners can also have their friends and family help with accumulating volunteer hours. Amber has a strong core of girlfriends in Mission who started a FB messaging group and eagerly completed over 150 friend hours on Amber’s behalf. As a single mom, she can receive up to 200 hours from her friends.

In September, some of the Mission families dedicated some of their hours to organizing a community BBQ. Given there were already seven families who had been living there for a year, it was a great opportunity to bring them all together. They created a FB group which continues to allow them to stay in touch and on top of local happenings. For the BBQ, some helped with organizing, some were on food prep and set up, one of the Dads is a photographer who captured the special moments, and Amber, also a former Early Childhood Educator, organized and ran the kids’ games.

Amber had 40 hours of sweat equity logged before even moving into her home!

Store Managers and our Build Site Supervisor are unanimous in saying that Amber’s work ethic is stellar. Senior ReStore Manager, Andrea Bachman says Amber is one of the best volunteers she has ever worked with. “She can literally do anything. From hanging mirrors, to building lights, to building furniture, and merchandising, she can do anything. And she’s fast.”

“She’s not afraid of hard work,” says Jason DeVries, the Site Supervisor in Mission. “It seems the heavier the work, the more enthusiastic she is. She’s done everything from moving dirt by wheelbarrow, to picking out rocks in the backyard and all the heavy lifting in between.”

In turn, Amber has a genuine love for connecting with others. “It’s been very positive, and I really like everyone I work with: Jason, Lynne, the volunteer crew on Thursdays and everyone at the ReStores,” says Amber. “It’s been a great experience.”

Through her volunteer hours, Amber was quick to point out that she has learned how to properly use a drill, follow instructions, assemble a variety of items and landscape. She is grateful for these and many more transferable skills.

Amber’s motivation was clear from the start. “For me it’s about building equity,” she says. She knew that as soon as she completed her 500 hours, she would start accumulating funds that will come back to her for a down payment on a home in the open market once she is ready to take that step.

She likes the partnership model that Habitat has established. “I think it’s a really good way to show your dedication; being proud of where you live, to appreciate and be grateful for this chance we’re given,” she says.

Driven, dedicated, and determined – Amber is a powerhouse. She completed her hours in record time. In just under four months, Amber reached her 500 hours while helping at our booth at the West Coast Women’s Show in October. Despite being finished, she continues to emulate the values of Habitat and has started offering fitness classes to the families in her complex.

Does she ever relax? Amber likes to take her sons, aged 9 and 11 camping and enjoyed a couple of excursions with them over the summer. She admits the transition of moving into a new community and changing schools was somewhat challenging, but her boys love the other kids in the complex and there “is a great sense of community”.

We’re confident Amber is going to continue putting in the sweat – she is a trainer after all, and we sincerely hope that happy tears and memories fill her days ahead.