Key Ceremony June 17, 2011

It was with great pleasure and honour that RCMP “Depot” Division and Habitat for Humanity proceeded with the key ceremony of Mountie House on Friday, June 17, in Regina.

Since its launch in 2009, Mountie House has collected over $180,000, thanks to the generous support of the Regina community and the project’s many partners. Located on Rae Street, in North Central Regina, the house will become the home of Giselle Hurlburt and her children, Jeremy and Adia.

 

 

According to Assistant Commissioner Roger L. Brown, Commanding Officer of RCMP “Depot” Division, “Mountie House is a concrete example of how one can shape a community through an exceptional partnership with a respected, well-known organization such as Habitat for Humanity Regina. This initiative is a symbol of what can be accomplished through cooperation and shared responsibility. On behalf of “Depot” Division, I would like to thank everyone that was involved in this project. We appreciate and value each contribution as an essential element to the fruition of Mountie House. This day is a symbolic celebration of a community coming together to help one another.”

Mountie House is a community-based project that enables both “Depot” Division employees and cadets to contribute to the welfare of a community, that is so near and dear to their hearts. It is a partnership with Habitat for Humanity Regina that helped raise the necessary funds to build a home for a lowincome, working family in Regina.

“Habitat for Humanity Regina salutes RCMP “Depot” Division for their phenomenal contribution to funding and building Mountie House. It seems like just a short time ago we began this extraordinary partnership to build a home for a deserving Regina family, but also to launch what will become a national partnership between Habitat for Humanity Affiliates and RCMP Divisions and detachments from sea to sea to sea. Assistant Commissioner and Commanding Officer Roger Brown has done a remarkable job in engaging cadets, members and staff to volunteer in the building of this home. To turn this home over to Gisele and her family is a most rewarding experience, and we are enormously proud to be partners with our finest”, said Dennis Coutts, CEO, Habitat for Humanity Regina Inc.

Regina’s Mountie House is the second of its kind, with the first done in 2005 in Ottawa. For more information on Mountie House or to make a donation, please visit mountiehouse.ca.

November 2010, sod was broken at the Mountie House.  Only seven short months and hundreds of volunteer hours later, a family’s home ownership dream became reality as Assistant Commissioner Roger L. Brown, Commanding Officer of RCMP “Depot” Division, gave Giselle Hurlburt the keys to her brand new home June 17th.

A relentless summer rain made tents a necessity as about 100 people huddled underneath to watch the ceremony that took place on the front porch of the home.

 The Honourable Laura Ross, Minister responsible for Government Services, was the Master of Ceremony for the event.  Speakers included His Honour Dr. Gordon Barnhart, Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan; the Honourable June Draude, Minister responsible for Sask. Housing, City Councillor Wade Murray and Assistant Commissioner Roger Brown, Commanding Officer of “Depot” Division. 

Mounties in red serge lined the front sidewalk to the house as they ceremonially welcomed Giselle home with the keys being given to her by Assistant Commissioner Roger Brown, Commanding Officer of “Depot” Division. Tearing up as she spoke, Giselle spoke of a fresh start for her family and expressed gratitude and thankfulness to all involved in the project.

The Mountie House is the second of its kind in Canada with the first being built in Ottawa in 2005. More Mountie House projects will take place across the country as RCMP members from coast to coast sign up to get involved to help a family in need in their own communities.