A Gift From the Heart

I know what I’m getting everybody on my holiday gift list: a bag of nails. Really!

Actually it’s a box of nails and the price is $30. And each of those nails will be used to build a house for a Habitat for Humanity partner families. I might also buy and door handle or two ($50), and maybe even the kitchen sink ($150). Click here to see the entire catalogue.

For those of you who don’t know, Habitat for Humanity helps low-income families build and buy simple, decent affordable homes through a no-interest, no-profit mortgage. This means that low-income families can build assets, reduce their dependence on other forms of social assistance and break the cycle of poverty. A hand up, not a hand out.

Habitat for Humanity Canada has logged more than 10 million volunteer hours and built over 2,000 homes. Each Habitat partner family, by the way, has to contribute “sweat equity,” 500 hours of volunteer, usually on a Habitat build site.

But back to the gift list: maybe I’ll buy somebody a roof!It's only $5,000!