The annual Meaning of Home contest asks students in grades 4, 5, and 6 to share what home means to them. Grade 5 Niagara Falls student Diya C. is a runner up, earning a $10,000 grant for Habitat for Humanity Niagara.

For the third year in a row, a record number of students shared what home means to them in Habitat for Humanity Canada’s Meaning of Home contest. Over 13,000 students entered, beating last year’s record by more than 1,000 entries and raising over $311,000 for local Habitat for Humanity organizations across Canada.

By sharing what home means to them, students learn about affordable housing issues in their community and raise funds to help build homes for people in need of safe and decent housing. In addition to three grand prize winners who won a $30,000 grant each for a local Habitat, nine runners up have won a $10,000 grant and every student who entered the contest earned a $10 donation for their local Habitat.

“Having a safe, decent and affordable home to live in is the foundation for families to build a better life,” said Mark Carl, Habitat Niagara CEO. “In reading Diya’s submission, she shares that home is a place where she feels safe and secure, and she mentions that home was a place where she spent most of her time during the Covid pandemic, which made her realize that a home is more than just four walls and one roof. It’s for reasons like that why we continue building and advocating for more affordable housing and homeownership in Niagara.”

The Meaning of Home contest would not be possible without the generous support of Founding Sponsor, Sagen^TM, Award Sponsors Urban Systems Foundation, Chapman’s Ice Cream, and Home Trust, and Judging Sponsors Microban 24, Face to Face Games, and Hunter Douglas.

“We could not be more proud that this contest continues to grow year over year,” said Stuart Levings, President and CEO of Sagen. “Children across Canada are provided the unique opportunity to be a part of something so important on a national scale while helping their local community at the same time, all with a short poem or essay.”

To read all the winning entries, including Diya’s submission, please visitmeaningofhome.ca/page/winners2022