With a potential new building project on the horizon for the Olds area, Habitat for Humanity's Mountain View chapter is putting the call out for volunteers.
Founded in 2002, the chapter merged with three other HFH affiliates—Calgary, Brooks and Medicine Hat— last year to form Habitat for Humanity Southern Alberta.
Representatives from the chapter and HFH Southern Alberta hosted an information session for roughly a dozen people at Olds College on May 7 detailing the organization's recent efforts in the area, the chapter's need for more volunteers for its board and various committees and its possible upcoming projects.
Leslie Tamagi, president and chief executive officer of HFH Southern Alberta, said since the merger took place, the larger organization has been able to take care of administrative duties such as dealing with taxes and finances to allow volunteers to focus on the more pressing needs of finding appropriate families for an HFH home, fundraising and building projects.
“So that, really, the local committee is focusing on helping to find a family, helping to get the build underway and doing some local fundraising,” she said.
While finding volunteers to swing hammers and saw wood in the county is never really a problem, the local chapter is seeking roughly 10 people for its board of directors, two or three people for its family selection subcommittee and four or five people for its fundraising subcommittee.
Tamagi told the gathering that last year, during a building project in Carstairs, 101 volunteers put in 1,800 hours of work for the chapter, with 66 of those people contributing 710 hours at the build site.
On average, a volunteer helping out on any particular committee puts in about 150 hours per year, but Tamagi said volunteers can choose how many hours they want to work and different subcommittees require varying amounts of time commitments.
Since the chapter was incorporated, it has built nine homes for families with low incomes.
The first was in 2005 in Cremona, with subsequent projects in Sundre in 2006, Olds in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, Didsbury in 2010 and Carstairs in 2012.
Dennis McKernan, the Mountain View chapter's chair and head of its construction committee, said while the chapter is “dormant right now,” it wants to be prepared with a full roster of volunteers when the next project is announced.
“We've got some exciting things on the horizon and we need to be ready for that,” he said.
Tamagi said HFH is looking for some land in Olds, the community in the county with the “biggest need” for affordable housing, in order to build one or two homes as early as next year.
The organization is working with the Town of Olds to find the land and Tamagi said HFH hopes the town will donate land for up to two duplexes.
In February, HFH approached the town about its needs and Norm McInnis, the town's chief administrative officer, suggested land which the town shop occupies on 52 Avenue could be donated to the organization.
Tamagi said the organization will next approach the town's planning committee later this month to discuss land opportunities in Olds.
Harold Johnsrude, a member of the Mountain View chapter, told the gathering that having enough volunteers for the board and the various committees prior to a build prevents a situation where too few people take on too many tasks and get burnt out.
In an interview following the meeting on May 7, McKernan said the opportunity to build in Olds is the greatest not just because of the need for affordable housing in the town since the community is growing, but also because of the “likelihood we can field enough volunteers to get this build within our time frame, under budget.”
“Where we need to really focus our energy in shoring up the organization is in broadening our base of support,” he said. “So when we do seize an opportunity in the near future, hopefully, we're going to be ready to go.”
For more information on the organization or to volunteer, visit www.habitatsouthernab.ca or email [email protected].
