2015 Summer, Fall News Letter

Although the Chatham-Kent Home Builders Association takes two months off their regular scheduled dinner meetings through July & August, the workings of the Association lives on.

July 2015 was actually a busy month for CKHBA starting with the CKHBA Golf Tournament ran by Andrew McGregor of Federated Insurance and Ed DeJonge of Ed DeJonge Construction. The Golf Tournament took place at the Links of Kent Golf Course, the sun was shining, the food was great and the service was excellent! We also raffled off a bbq donated by our Platinum Sponsor Union Gas, the winner was non other than Andrew McGregor of Federated Insurance, proving that there is such thing as Karma! This tournament was not just a wonderful time for our Association to unite, it was also heavily sponsored from both members and non, which in turn became very profitable for our Association.

July didn't end with a simple Golf Tournament for CKHBA, we also decided to use some of the funds raised at the Golf Tournament to help the Habitat for Humanity install the roof of the Habitat for Humanity Build in Wallaceburg On. This roofing project was driven by long time CKHBA Member and Board Member Gilles Michaud of Gilles Michaud Construction. After the event we were sent some beautiful pictures and this thank you message from Nancy McDowell of Habitat for Humanity.
"Hi Dan, Please extend my sincere thanks to all for helping us out on a moment's notice!  The Home Builders have been great partners and are making a huge difference in the lives of local families needing a helping hand up.  I know the Davis family is excited as they see a building start to look like a home! Thank you again for stepping in and helping out.  It means a lot!"

August was a more quiet month however it did not stop the CKHBA from making some advances. For starters we hired a new Executive Officer and that happens to be myself, Kevin Owen of Owen Flooring. I am really enjoying the position thus far and look forward to advancing the CKHBA into 2016 and years to come! The CKHBA also enjoyed a Steak BBQ put on by the Municipality of Chatham-Kent at the Imperial Club on Aug. 12. This was a great opportunity to get together with each other as well as the building department to address issues and concerns with current practices. August also brought forward several CKHBA Website updates for members and future members benefit, we introduced a CKHBA On-line Calender highlighting all the future CKHBA events, locations, and times. We also released a "BE A MEMBER" tab at the top of our website, where users can fill out an On-line Application Form or Print out Application Form, and see the benefits of being a member with the Membership Overview, Why Belong, Discover RenoMark, RenoMark Code of Ethics. We also started posting meeting notices and agendas on-line under the Events tab.

We started September off with a bang, having a meeting in the Retro Suites Derby Room with special guest MPP Rich Nicholls to come in and discuss construction red tape, I believe the general census was that his hands are pretty well tied on the subject and we need to keep making noise as a local association. CKHBA BOD also put in place a Nominations Committee for the 2016/17 CKHBA Board of Directors made up of Mike Vandersluis of Bouma Builders Will Holsapel of Windmill Cabinet Shop and Kevin Owen of Owen Flooring to seek out potential candidates among CKHBA. If you know someone that would be a good fit as CKHBA Board Member please bring them to the attention of the Nominations Committee, as we will be hosting the election at our scheduled Annual Meeting of Membership in November.
MPP Rick Nicholls

Also in September with the help of Greg Hetherington of 99.1 CKSX we hosted a Fall Home and Leisure Show at the John D Bradley Convention Centre. It has been said that the event welcomed just under one thousand guests and raised $4000.00 to be donated to the Foundation of Chatham Kent Health Alliance. The Fall Home and Leisure Show went very well highlighting 80 vendors from in and around the Chatham-Kent area, just under 30 booths were made up of Chatham-Kent Home Builder Association Members, we also noticed a few members who could not entertain a booth show up and support the cause. This event is planned to happen again next year, however likely in late October. Thank you for all of your support! Our CKHBA President Dan VanMoorsel of Lafarge Chatham also attended the 2015 OHBA Conference in Huntsville at the Deerhurst Resort and we look forward to hearing more about this trip at our CKHBA October Meeting & Membership Drive

October is Renovation Month and CKHBA is kicking it off right with a CKHBA Membership Drive! This CKHBA member for a free meal and presentation put on and paid for by CKHBA. This year we have special guest Bruce Bolduc from Construction Workplace Safety Training to come in and speak a little bit about construction safety. We feel like this is the perfect person to speak after the summer we have had working with the new Safety Inspector in the CK area.
event is designed for members to bring a potential future

This past summer the Ontario Home Builders Association announced that over the next ten years the construction industry will need to attract 109 000 employees in our industry. We are currently looking into ways to do this locally, including high school and college presentations as well as attending local career fairs and as always we appreciate your support!

Over the next few months we will be seeing many changes happen within the CKHBA, we have several exciting guest speakers for meetings as well as an entertaining Christmas Party to look forward to and we anticipate an excellent winter!      




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