Habitat for Humanity finally turned the sod on Saturday on the North Morden lot generously donated two years ago.

Cheers broke out when Habitat for Humanity's Secretary and PR Manager, Christina Falk, started out her speech calling Saturday, "a momentous day." Falk shared this had been a very difficult year, and there were days she felt like they just needed to stop, with some of the obstacles that had come up. She was reminded by the words Sue Nelson, Head of the Fundraising Committee, had said, "Everything worth doing, is worth struggling for."

Falk said, if they did things differently, it might not have been so hard, but explained why Habitat operates the way that it does, not hiring tradespeople to do the work, rather having volunteers come in to build.

"I believe this is worth doing. Habitat in not just about building houses. We work in a certain way, in order to bring a community together to work together to accomplish something."

Peter and Emily Derksen are the recipients of this home, with their two young boys, and are grateful to have this opportunity through Habitat to own their first home.

"This means being able to put down roots. It means not looking for another place to live at the end of our lease, and now we can just put down roots here and stay here. It's one school for our boys. You don't have to move around anymore, it's just stability."

Falk talked about how local communities have been divided over that last number of months, and how this building project can do more than build a home.

"When you can look beyond yourself to someone else and reach out, it can change your perspective, and I think this program, that's what we want to do now. That's part of pulling us back together to figure that out again. How do we work as a community again?"

Pete and Emily, and their two boys, are looking forward to coming together with community to build their new home in Morden. They are required to give 500 Sweat Equity Hours to the project, and will work along side community members and work groups who will donate their time and money to finish the home building project. While the future of the build is unknown, pending COVID-19 restrictions, Falk says they are ready to roll with the what they need to do regarding volunteers.

To register a team for a Build Day click HERE.

To apply for the next home click HERE.