Habitat for Humanity has been in Yorkton for three years now, and already it's planning a provincial first. The Yorkton Faith Build is a plan to bring together churches in Yorkton and area, and work together to build a Habitat home for a deserving family.
Des Klingspon with Habitat says that this build has been in the works since the founding of Yorkton Habitat for Humanity. He notes that since it's a Christian organization, making a faith build has been something which makes sense for the group, and while uncommon in Canada it's a popular initiative south of the border. He says this build will be led by the churches involved.
"The churches will be supplying the fundraising, the manpower and taking care of the aspects of building and organization," Klingspon explains.
Thirteen churches are already part of the project, but Klingspon says that they hope to get every church in Yorkton and area involved in the build.
"It's a real opportunity for us to not just be confined to doing things with our own churches, but to really be able to work together and do something out there in the community," he says.
The faith build was a natural fit, Klingspon says, since churches and Habitat have similar goals overall.
"It's part of the mandate of Habitat and of churches to take care and help people in need, so we thought it was a real fit for the church and a real win for the community if more people were activated and seeing to the needs of the community."
The early support from the churches has been encouraging, Klingspon says, and he believes it's because people are looking for ways to do good in their community, and Habitat is a great way for many people to get involved.
"It doesn't matter what your age is or what your skills are in a build like this, there's so many things needed that there's room for literally everybody to take part."
It's still early days for the project, and many of the details have not been decided on yet. Klingspon says the goal is to have it complete by 2014, and right now they are working with the City of Yorkton to find an appropriate lot. He says they hope to announce the location and the family soon.
