It’s no surprise that Habitat for Humanity of North Central Iowa, like many other organizations, had to cancel our annual Hammers & Heels event due to COVID-19.
But instead of just calling off the fundraiser, we launched our first ever Hope, Communities, Homes + You “Online Build-a-thon to raise money to help fund the mission of Habitat, to bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope in North Iowa.
We are asking families, churches, and businesses to be a designers, builders, and online fundraisers all while using proper social distancing! Competing against each other, teams will work to build a small scale home from their home. The houses can be made of any materials from toilet paper rolls to scrap wood, literally anything goes! And the fun judging categories include most unique materials, the most edible, smallest house, largest house, most usable in the long-term, and even the flimsiest house!
“We are disappointed and know that canceling a large scale event puts a strain on our ability to partner with families in need of safe and affordable housing in North Iowa,” says Lisamarie Odeen, Program Manager at HFHNCI. “In order to continue our work we put together a fun new fundraising idea and we hope the community will continue to support us and take part!”
Registration goes through June 12th and teams will have until June 19th build their house. Judging begins on June 19th and the winners will be announced on KLSS 106.1 on June 26th.
“Many sponsors from the original event have graciously offered to sponsor this new event instead,” says Executive Director, Melissa Schoneberg. “We wanted to support those who have continually supported us, so we’re using the sponsorship donations to purchase gift cards and prizes from local shops and restaurants. We want to support local businesses who have been affected by closures and loss of revenue and we thought this was the perfect way to do that!”
In addition to gift cards prizes include 4 Air Choice One tickets (valid through April 2021) and a trip to Duluth, Minnesota (valid through February 2021)
Schoneberg says, “We are thankful for the ability to raise funds in this way and we can’t wait to see the creativity that comes from this new event!”
