Habitat For Humanity Kamloops has received construction materials worth more than $2 million from recently-closed OK Builders (Image Credit: Habitat For Humanity)

By Chad Klassen

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

Habitat Kamloops wins jackpot with $2 million donation by OK Builders

Jun 27, 2019 | 4:43 PM

KAMLOOPS — Habitat for Humanity Kamloops feels like it’s won the lottery. The non-profit that helps build affordable homes received an incredible gift by a building store that has closed its doors.

OK Builders announced in January it would be shutting down stores. It has now donated supplies to Habitat Kamloops worth in the range of $2 to $3 million in retail value.

Habitat Kamloops has received all kinds of construction supplies that are being stored in a habitat yard in Vernon.

“It involves typical concrete materials: building blocks, face brick, drywall supplies. Anything to do with cement and the concrete materials that OK Builders supplied throughout Kamloops and the Okanagan,” said executive director of Habitat For Humanity Kamloops Bill Miller.

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Miller says the donation is a game-changer. The revenue it will receive from the sale of the material is estimated to bring in $700,000 after expenses. Miller says Habitat For Humanity typically brings in 30 to 40 per cent of an item’s retail value. The extra income will allow the organization to do what it does best — build homes.

Construction materials sit in a Habitat For Humanity yard in Vernon, waiting to be shipped to Kamloops (Image Credit: Habitat For Humanity)

“With the revenue we hope to generate out of the volume of this donation, this is going to help us towards building more units for seniors, veterans and families,” he said. “Some of those funds will go towards the acquisition of land, some will go directly into the housing.”

Miller says anyone interested in the construction materials can call the Kamloops store. He’s hoping a lot of the materials are sold before they have to be shipped to the city.

“We are trying to move and sell as much of the product as we can out of the yard [in Vernon] before we have to move it to Kamloops. There’s about 70 B-trains of material if we were to move it all at once, and the existing facility we have, we simply don’t have the room for it.”