On Saturday, the Winkler - Morden Habitat for Humanity Chapter rang in the warm weather with the first garage sale of the season.

Raffle tickets were being sold for the whimsical playhouse, and the baking and sale items were all donations from the community.

"That's one of the things about habitat, is sort of bringing the community together to do the builds . . . It's really important the the community see that it's an important thing for the health and vibrancy of the community, to help out," says Fundraising Chair, Sue Nelson.

She says the Habitat workers and volunteers were thrilled to see people coming through with donations, and stopping by to shop.

"I have always thought that Habitat was a great thing. I liked the ideals, I liked the idea of building stronger communities through homeownership."

In the area 10 to 15 percent of people cannot afford to buy their own home, Nelson adds.

"They're good, hard-working people but won't ever be able to afford a home, so this gives them stability in the community."

She says Habitat is also a unique organization because the community is the at the centre of all the fundraising and building. Without community members and business owners stepping up to help, Habitat would not exist.

"When we start our builds we have people, businesses, and building contractors that are donating materials, and time, and labour."

The Habitat for Humanity ReStore from Winnipeg also stopped by to take building material donations like doors, windows, and countertops. The local chapter receives a portion of those donations.

"It's new and used building materials that they can sell in their ReStore in Winnipeg, so it's kind of like a thrift shop for building materials," says Nelson.

Anyone who missed out on the sale can catch the fundraising dinner in Morden on May 9. John Janzen from Inner City Youth Alive in Winnipeg will be speaking about homelessness and his answer to it - stronger communities.

As well, on June 22 they will host a Beach Boat Build at Colert Beach in Morden.