The Habitat for Humanity Orillia/Lake Country ReStore will be closed Friday, April 6th for Good Friday.

The speaker for our 2012 AGM will be Nancy Colefield, presenting "BRECHIN & BEYOND," an organization of volunteers working to revitalize the Brechin area.  This project is very exciting for the residents of Brechin and the outlying areas, including Lagoon City.  Come and hear Nancy's presentation and be inspired to join in the movement to "put Brechin on the map." 

Our Annual General Meeting is planned for Thursday evening, April 19th — 6:30 PM at the Brechin United Church on Ramara Road 47, just west of the Town of Brechin.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND PLAN TO ATTEND!

Our Annual General Meeting is planned for Thursday evening, April 19th — 6:30 PM.  Since we are building a semi-detached home in Brechin this year, it was decided to locate our AGM in this community at the Brechin United Church on Ramara Road 47, just west of the Town of Brechin.

On the agenda will be the Committee Reports for 2011, the election of our Directors and also important information about our "Brechin Build".  The special speaker for the evening will be announced at a later date.  Everyone welcome.

Habitat for Humanity Orillia/Lake Country is overjoyed to announce that our ReStore at 3835 Campbell Road, just north of Orillia off Highway 11, IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS ONCE AGAIN AS OF JANUARY 5TH!

We are accepting donations at the ReStore from individuals, companies, and organizations.  We will thankfully accept reusable building materials that are no longer needed, including end-of-line and scratch-and-dent materials, discontinued inventory, and customer returns as well as gently-used furniture.  Please contact Ivan, our ReStore manager, at 705-327-3279 for details on donation acceptance.  ReStores also divert more than 12,000 tonnes of materials from landfills each year.  By donating to a ReStore, you'll not only help keep reusable materials out of landfills, but, as a retailer or manufacturer, you might also save yourself the cost of returning them.

Come on out and celebrate our re-opening by shopping in our store—you'll find some fantastic buys at the ReStore including windows and doors, sinks and plumbing supplies, lumber, tools, lighting, carpet, flooring, and ceramic tiles as well as household and garden equipment and gently-used furniture.

When you shop at a ReStore, the profits are used primarily to help families in need.  So while you're saving money, you are also restoring HOPE for families by helping Habitat build simple, decent, and affordable homes in our community.  You will be helping low- to moderate-income working families to make the transition from renter to homeowner and giving families a hand up, but not a hand out!  You will be helping to further our organization's vision of a "world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live."

We are extremely grateful to generous community partners such as Orillia Lions Club, Community Foundation of Orillia & Area, Casino Rama, and the Orillia Area Community Development Corp.; thank you for helping us with the ReStore opening costs.

We could not have completed the renovations at the ReStore without the support of our dedicated volunteers; we'd also like to thank the Township of Severn Building and Fire Departments for their assistance and patience during our "growing pains" as well as the following companies for their support of our organization:

The open-hours for the ReStore are Thursday from 9:00–5:00 PM, Friday from 9:00–5:00 PM, and on Saturday from 9:00–4:00 PM.

For maps and directions, see the bottom of the ReStore page.

The Orillia/Lake Country ReStore will open for business Thursday, January 5th at 9:00 AM.

We plan on being open Thursdays and Fridays from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM, and Saturdays from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM.

Habitat Orillia would like to thank everyone for their patience and assistance while we carried out our recent renovations. 

For maps and directions, check the bottom of the ReStore webpage.

At this time of year, our thoughts turn to those persons in our community who are struggling and who could greatly benefit from a hand-up.  With continued assistance from our community partners and successful fundraising, we will build two more homes in Brechin in 2012.  We sincerely thank all of those people in our communities who are supporting Habitat for Humanity Orillia/Lake Country in our efforts to build simple, decent homes for low- to moderate-income working families.  Habitat for Humanity Orillia/Lake Country may be building homes—but we are also building HOPE—hope in a brighter future for our partner families.  We wish you and yours a wonderful blessed Holiday Season and all of the very best for 2012!

Habitat for Humanity Orillia/Lake Country will be holding our 8th annual "Holes for Habitat" Golf Tournament on Thursday, June 14th, 2012 at Horseshoe Resort.  This is a Special Year as we will be building two (2) homes in Brechin in 2012!  Mark June 14th on your calendar and make sure that you register.

For all the details, please contact:

Habitat for Humanity Golf Committee
Gerry Murphy
(705) 326-2733
gerrymurphy@rogers.com

Casino Rama has once again made a wonderful commitment to partner with Habitat for Humanity Orillia/Lake Country with a very generous donation in the amount of $2,500.00.  This donation will be used to offset the cost of the water reservoir installation at the ReStore in order to allow us to open again to the public.  Thank you to Casino Rama for your continuing support of our organization.

We plan to break ground in late spring to build a semi-detached home to help two hard-working families make the transition from renter to homeowner.  You can help by supporting our SQUARE FOOT PROGRAMME.  Your commitment of $100 for one square foot could mean that our homes are one square foot closer to being built...perhaps even purchase more than one square foot!  Contact Carol at sharpe_carol@yahoo.ca for more information, and see the Donations page for more details.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation is an agency of the Government of Ontario and we have been fortunate in securing a Trillium grant of $225,000 over three years for our ReStore start-up costs.  This grant allowed us to hire a ReStore manager and cover our lease costs upon start-up.

The Community Foundation of Orillia and Area generously approved our grant in the amount of $2,000 for safety equipment at the ReStore.

The Orillia Area Community Development Corporation (CDC) has recently granted us $3,100 for much-needed security equipment at the ReStore.  Carol Benedetti, the Community Development Coordinator for CDC, presented a cheque to Habitat President Marlene Mattson and Fund Development Chair Gerry Murphy on October 15th just prior to the ReStore grand opening ceremonies.

The Community Foundation of Orillia and Area presented a cheque in the amount of $4,800 to Fund Development Chair Gerry Murphy and President Marlene Mattson on Tuesday, November 15th.  This grant is to be used to cover ReStore truck rental expenses for eight months.  This is the second grant Habitat has received from this organisation this year and we are certainly very appreciative of their willingness to partner with us in this way.