WCDR mini-home show

KINBURN – For families who had a home one day, and then no home the next, rebuilding from scratch has a learning curve that is more like a straight up wall.

West Carleton Disaster Relief (WCDR) has been supporting the tornado-affected every step of the way following a destructive tornado that left more than 115 families homeless on Sept. 21.

WCDR volunteer Allan Joyner was the lead organizer behind an event he referred to as a “mini-home show,” held on Saturday, Dec. 8 at the Kinburn Community Centre.

More than 12 vendors in the housing industry, from contractors to builders, set up booths and were there to provide advice, information and ideas for registered WCDR families.

“It’s not a sales event, it’s an information event,” Joyner told West Carleton Online from the floor of the hall. “We want people to be able to ask questions. This is a first time for everybody going through this recovery.”

One of the vendors on site, Guildcrest Homes, is currently building two pre-fab homes on two sites in the heavily damaged Dunrobin. But that’s not what’s newsworthy about their involvement at the home show.

The home builders made a huge $5,000 donation to tornado disaster relief through the West Carleton Food Access Centre (the WCFAC collects money separately for disaster relief and made a $50,000 donation to WCDR on Nov. 8).

Guildcrest Homes’ Sean Kelley said the builder held “a dinner with potential clients and matched donations.”

George Tierney, who is also with Guildcrest Homes, has been at the Dunrobin construction sites a few times.

“It’s hard to drive through,” he told West Carleton Online. “You feel like you are invading people’s privacy.”

Kelley expects the two families the builder is working with will be able to move in to their new homes in spring “if all the cards fall in to place.”