Habitat For Humanity Day - Monday, October 5, 2009

Last Year (2008) 35,532 REALTORS^® who donated funds to the Realtors Care Foundation helped enable the foundation to donate over 1/4 of a million dollars to shelter related charities in Ontario. The support of 18 Ontario real estate boards and their members who participated in the various campaigns to raise funds for the foundation helped make it possible to donate money to shelter based charities that included; women's, youth's, and men's shelters, Habitat for Humanity in several areas throughout Ontario, Out of the cold programs, hospices, Community Living and many many more.

The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) foundation works to support shelter related charities throughout Ontario in their efforts to provide emergency and permanent housing solutions. It is estimated that approximately one third of the homeless in Canada are aged 16 to 24 that's about 65,000 young adults with out a place to call home.

The Realtors Care Foundation invests 100% of all funds donated through an endowment fund and uses only the income from the fund to support these worthwhile causes, This means there will be funds avialable not only for this generation but for generations to come.

October 5th, 2009, the first Monday in October

The United Nations has designated October 5th 2009 as World Habitat Day with the desire that we will reflect on the state of our communities and the basic right to adequate shelter for all.

One does not need to visit a third world country to see that Poverty and Homelessness are often found hand in hand.

Raising the Roof, a national charity dedicated to long term solutions to homelessness, states that approximately one third of the homeless in Canada are aged 16 to 24 that's about 65,000 young adults with out a place to call home.

Raising Awareness

They are trying to raise awareness of, the Hidden Homeless, the four out of five homeless Canadians who do not live on the street but in church basements or abandoned buildings, in cars or on someones couch. Many of these are children, some are seniorswho can not afford conventional housing on their fixed incomes, others are adults with full time low paying jobs.  Raising awareness links are to short (mp3) radio spots that really hit home.

With roughly 80% of the homeless in Canada being identified as The Hidden Homeless here are 10 Facts about the Hidden Homeless and 10 Things You can do to help

What else can You do

Contact Habitat For Humanity in your community and volunteer or determine what it would take for a group from your club, church or social network to help build a family a home.

There is a Misconception that the people who get a Habitat House do not have to pay for it

Remember the recipients of these home are not getting a hand out but a hand up.
They pay for the house based on its appraised value when completed

 

Find out if your community's development plans include affordable and accessible housing, become an advocate for such housing if necessary.

Donate to local agencies that are working to help the homeless and or the disadvantaged in your community.

By helping to provide a Hand Up Not A Hand Out
We are helping people with dignity.

I would Challenge each and everyone to reach out and touch someonebe it as close as a neighbour going through a hard time to some one half way around the world.  Your assistance can vary from donating to a local food bank, a local shelter, to travelling halfway around the world to help, educate, rebuild housing destroyed in a disaster, or offer aid and assistance. we can all do just one do at least one thing, then the world will be better for it and so would we.

No longer will I sit on the sidelines and watch
as a suffering world revolves around me.