Strathroy, Ont. high school students help build home, raise money for hospital

Students fundraise one house build at a time High school students in Strathroy built two homes as part of a fundraiser for a local hospital. Bryan Bicknell explains.

The first two homes have now been completed in a project that teams high school students with local builders in Strathroy. But the big winner in the Building Foundations Project is the Strathroy General Hospital and its patients.

“I think it was very cool. Like I love seeing what I started, like what us as a crew started,” said Emma McPherson, and grade 12 student in the construction program at Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School in Strathroy.

She was among a group of students touring two new semi-detached homes they helped build on Haddon Lane in Strathroy.

“So it’s for grade 11 and 12 students at Holy Cross. We help builders build a home from start to finish,” explained grade 11 student, Craig Kopal.

The land for the project has been donated by the municipality. Six semi-detached homes will be built in total.

“Because students will see the build-through from beginning to end they get to work with a number of different trades and find out which one suits them the best. So it will really help them hone in on where they want to go after high school,” said Holy Cross construction teacher John Drahushchak.

The homes will be sold, with the profits going to the Strathroy General Hospital Foundation.

“So much of the materials, some of the labour, has been either discounted or donated,” said Foundation CEO Ed Wheatley. “We suspect that at a minimum we will be looking at about 1.4 million [dollars] that will go to the hospital when all is said and done.”

The money raised will help purchase an MRI — the first in the hospital’s more than 60 year history. Hospital officials said it’s going to be a game-changer for patients from Strathroy and surrounding communities.

“Local people can have that MRI locally, but it’s more than that. It also takes pressure off of MRIs in the city, in London, in Sarnia,” said Wheatley.

The next two homes will be built this year, with the final two slated for 2025.