This week, Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga (HFHHM) and CUMIS/The Co-operators partnered for the third time to host one of Habitat’s most innovative and impactful fundraising programs, the CUMIS Playhouse Build-a-thon.
Hosted at the CUMIS office in Burlington June 4-6, 75 employee volunteers assembled, painted and decorated imaginative children’s playhouses. On the final day of the build (June 6, 2019) playhouses were judged based on the quality of the build, creativity, sale-ability of the finished product and amount of fun had by volunteer teams. In addition to building the playhouses, CUMIS presented a $25,000 donation HFHHM, reinforcing CUMIS’ commitment to the local Halton community.
“We are thrilled to be back at CUMIS for the third year in a row,” said John Gerrard, CEO, Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga. “Every year we return, and every year we are blown away by the enthusiasm and engagement of the CUMIS staff.”
We really are blown away by the level of support we receive from events like the CUMIS Playhouse Build. This year in particular, the creativity shown in the designs of the playhouses was second to none.
“The passion and creativity from our volunteers make this event one of our most cherished – it’s a lot of fun for our teams,” explained David Forestell, VP Finance and Life Operations, CUMIS. “We value our longstanding partnership with Habitat as it reinforces our commitment to build more resilient communities.”
The completed playhouses are now available for purchase at HFHHM’s ReStore locations in Burlington and Mississauga with proceeds from the sale helping to build affordable Habitat homes for hard-working, low-income families in need. But hurry up and visit our ReStores because they’ll all be gone soon!
In addition to the CUMIS Playhouse Build-a-thon, The Co-operators has been involved in local Habitat builds in other communities and developed the ReClaim program which provides ReStores with quality materials salvaged from home insurance claims.