By Jill Sperling

2018 Training House is a dream in the making

Aug 9, 2017 | 5:08 PM

KAMLOOPS — Just weeks after the winner was announced for this year’s Y Dream Home, work has already begun on the 2018 Training House, which will eventually become the next YMCA Dream Home. 

The project is a partnership between Thompson Rivers University, and the Central Interior division of the Canadian Home Builders Association. 

TRU Trades and Technology students are getting hands on experience as they prepare to lay the foundation of what will one day become someone’s dream home. 

“You learn stuff in school, but anyone with a degree or any sort of school education it’s a good starting point, but definitely hands-on, in the field, in the trenches is where you learn the bulk of whatever trade or profession you get into,” said instructor Bryce Coombs. 

Boogie The Bridge

Boogie The Bridge Event Information

Apr 19, 2024

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: A fond farewell to the airwaves from the Armchair Mayor

4h ago

SOUND OFF

SOUND OFF: Short-term rental rules coming into effect in British Columbia

23h ago

For the next six months the project will serve as a training ground for student carpenters, eventually becoming the 2018 Y Dream Home, the grand prize in the annual Y Dream Home Lottery. 

Kamloops YMCA CEO Colin Reid says the lottery raises close to a quarter of a million dollars yearly for the non-profit.  

“It’s our largest independent fundraiser and it impacts the Y in so many ways, provides valuable resources to serve our community, and to impact the lives of citizens,” Reid said. 

The house is built with a combination of purchased, discounted, and donated materials. It will rise as a part of Beachmount Estates, a subdivision located in Westsyde. 

“It’s more community oriented, we’re centrally located to the parks, the schools,” said project manager Jasbir Mahal. 

Like previous Dream Homes, the Training House is being built in a modern style. 

“This house will be a two-storey, 3 bedroom, with a bonus room, and I think our emphasis will be more sort of technology, advanced kind of a house,” Mahal said. 

In addition to being an educational tool, the 2018 Training House is a chance for students to give back to the community.

“It’s been said a thousand times, and could be said a thousand more how important it is to the community, and everyone,” Coombs said, “(and) just how great a program it is to raise funding for the Y and other people, and the great contribution that this community gives to … non profits.”