Jessica and Chris Roberts, and their children Konner and Paige, will be moving into a new home in Tichborne sometime in the spring of 2014.

They are the family who has been chosen by Habitat For Humanity to purchase the home that is under construction in the hamlet of Tichborne. The Roberts put in an application to Habitat early in the summer and learned in the early fall that they were one of three families on the short list for the home.

“We didn’t let ourselves think we had much of a chance,” said Jessica, speaking from the modular home that the family is currently renting, when contacted early this week.

Even though the Roberts found out that the home was going to be theirs on November 22, they couldn’t tell anyone about it before the official announcement, which happened one week later, on November 29.

It so happened that the 29th was easily the coldest morning of the season so far - so cold that when everyone went into the unfinished, and unheated, home to warm up after the photo-op, it was even colder than it had been in the sunshine outdoors.

However, two people at the event who seemed not to notice the cold were Konner and Paige, and there was a reason for that.

“We didn’t tell them about it until we drove up to the house that morning,” said Jessica. “We just said, here is one of our Christmas presents, a new home to live in. They were pretty excited; they even picked out their bedrooms on the spot.”

However, although the official opening took place on the 29th, the selection was not really a secret. That’s because Chris is one of the managers of the Mike Dean’s grocery store in Sharbot Lake, and when he walked into work the day after finding out, “the first person I saw took one look at the smile on my face and said ‘you got the house, didn’t you,” Chris related.

The shell of the house is up, and the heating and electrical systems are going in this week; however all of the interior finishing, the drywall, flooring, etc. is still to be done. One of the expectations that Habitat for Humanity has is a commitment of 500 hours of labour from the recipient family. In return they will not need to come up with a down payment and will receive an interest-free mortgage for the full value of the home.

“Chris is ready to start working on his days off and my father and other members of our family all have building experience so we will be ready as soon as we get the go-ahead,” Jessica said.

Ron Ruttan, the relatively new CEO of Habitat for Humanity Kingston, said that a number of local contractors have provided materials and labour to the project at very low or no cost to help the project along the way.

“And now that we have such a good family lined up we are hoping to see even more community involvement to help us get this house finished,” he said.

To volunteer for the Tichborne build, call 613-548-8736 or go to Habitatkingston.com and click on the volunteer button at the bottom of the home page.

This month, the Hinchinbrooke School of Rock celebrated the arrival of new musical and video equipment, thanks to a generous grant from the Limestone Learning Foundation.

The Hinchinbrooke School of Rock has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the winter of 2005. What started as a casual lunch hour gathering of four intermediate students has blossomed into a structured extra-curricular music program which meets two days a week and involves almost 20 students. This would not have been possible without the assistance of the Limestone Learning Foundation, which over the years has provided the School of Rock program with over $5000 to purchase musical instruments, as well as recording and video equipment.

Students in the School of Rock are taught how to play one (or more!) instruments while learning rock music - from ACDC and Deep Purple, to The Troggs and Bob Dylan. Students have even begun to write and record their own music. Watch for details about our upcoming end-of-the-year show in late May, as well as a CD of original music.

Hinchinbrooke Public School would like to send a HUGE thank-you to the Limestone School of Music. Thank-you for bringing music to the North!

Ron Ruttan is just six weeks into his new job as CEO of Habitat for Humanity in Greater Kingston and Frontenac and since he has roots in Central, North and South Frontenac, no one is happier than he is to see Habitat's first home build taking shape in Tichborne.

Ruttan grew up near Godfrey on the north end of Second Depot Lake and was a member of the Hinchinbrooke fire department before amalgamation. Now a captain with the City of Kingston's Volunteer Department, Ruttan said his time spent in Frontenac is “a source of pride and helped shape the man he is today.”

Ruttan also has special ties to Tichborne. “I have old pictures of my aunt Audrey, who lived in the little blue house here in town. She was the post master for Bud Goodfellow and her parents (my grandfather) and her uncle worked on the railway here.”

The Tichborne build is currently under construction through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity and Corrections Canada (CORCAN). A CORCAN supervisor is heading up the current portion of the build and was there supervising three minimum security inmates from the Frontenac Institution who are participants in the construction skills development training program there, which is run by St. Lawrence College. On the day I visited with Ruttan, the four were busy closing in the three bedroom 1000 square foot bungalow and getting it ready to windows to be installed. The plumbing and electrical work that will take place in the next few days. The home is expected to be ready for occupation by mid-January and the family that will be purchasing it will be announced in the next week or two. Habitat appoints a special family selection committee of their own who work closely with local families who have applied to qualify for the Tichborne home, and Ruttan said he is relieved not to have to be the person selecting the family himself. “If it were up to me I'd build 100 homes here but that is not financially possible.”

Ruttan hopes that the build will not be the last in the local area. Prior to landing the job as CEO, he had volunteered his skills at a number of Habitat home builds in Kingston. He was contacted by the Habitat Kingston Re-store about the CEO job. Ruttan is a millwright by trade and worked at Dupont Canada prior to working with the Limestone District School Board for nine years as a consultant with the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP), a program that became very successful all across the province.

He said he still works very closely with the school board and is hoping to partner with them to have students take part in future Habitat projects. “I'd love to see students from Granite Ridge and other local area schools take part in some of these builds,” he said.

The Tichborne home was fabricated by a crew of 12 inmates at the Pittsburgh Institution and was later transported to the site. Once on site, a supervisor and 3-man inmate crew built the ICF foundation and poured then concrete. The crew crew began working on site in September and since then they have worked on foundation, hoist, crane and truss work, as well as on the weeping tile and more basic construction techniques.

Kyle, one of the three builders, said he “enjoyed the opportunity of giving back and doing something positive for the community.” He added that the work has given him the confidence and hands on experience he needs when he will be applying for construction jobs in the near future.

The Tichborne home, like all Habitat builds, is built to EnergyStar guidelines and will be warrantied by Tarion.

Once this crew is finished their work, Tarasick Carpentry will be taking over on site and will be heading up a Habitat corporate build day that is scheduled to take place November 1. On that day local corporations and/or businesses will be able to donate to the build by sending their employees to work on the site.

Once it is finished the home will be appraised at market value and will be sold to the selected family, who will be required to put 500 hours of labor into it. The family's mortgage payments are what enable Habitat to fund other builds.

“The family who qualifies for this particular home will be getting a good quality, safe home with no down payment and an interest-free mortgage. So what in fact we are doing is helping families to move on by being able to own their own home,” said Ron Ruttan.

He said that many local building service providers have offered their time and skills for the Tichborne build. Anyone wanting to volunteer can visit Habitat for Humanity's website, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 613-548-8763. Ruttan expects the next Habitat build will take place in Kingston but said that after that he is hoping to see another build in the area.

Last Friday, July 26, on one of those rare Goldilocks summer afternoons, the Strong Women Drum kicked off a short ceremony to mark the spot where in the next few months the first Habitat for Humanity House in Frontenac County will be going up.

The Kingston/Frontenac chapter of Habitat for Humanity Canada has built 11 homes thus far. The first 10 were in the City of Kingston, and the 11th was in the village of Bath.

The move into the surrounding rural areas from the organization’s base in Kingston is the fulfilment of one of the goals of the chapter to expand into the entire region. According to interim CEO Tim Jamieson, it is also based on the reality that “it is becoming harder and harder to find affordable land in the city itself.”

Since the organisation is entirely supported by donations of labour, materials and cash, the cost of land is a major concern.

“We were fortunate that Rick and Cathy Goodfellow offered up a building lot in Tichborne to us at a very reasonable price,” said Jamieson, “and since we know there is a need in Central Frontenac, it was great fit.”

The project will be built with the assistance of Kingston’s prison population. Corrections Canada is one of Habitat’s partners in Kingston, and through an inmate training program in the construction trades, the outer shell of the house will be built in Kingston and shipped in two pieces to the site in Tichborne. A couple of weeks before that happens, another crew of inmates will travel up to the site and will help put the cement foundation in.

“Somewhere around the beginning of October, the building will arrive and the rest of the work on the house will begin, with help from local volunteers and others,” said Jamieson.

The site already has a well and septic system in place, thanks to the efforts of Davy Well Drilling and Nedow Construction and the on-site construction phase will be supervised by Tarasick Construction.

The family selection is slated for this month, and although the criteria for eligible families is rather strict, (the family income level must be over $29,000 but under $59,000 and the family must not already own a home) there are three local families who are still in consideration for selection.

The family that is selected will be obligated to provide 200 hours worth of labour to the project. When the home is completed they will purchase it and take on a mortgage, but the difference between the Habitat home and others is that no down payment will be required and the mortgage will be interest-free.

“The goal for this project is to provide a family a way out of the renting cycle. For what it is costing them now to rent, they will be able to purchase their own home and provide the level of security to their children that comes with home ownership,” said Jamieson.

The ground breaking marks a new kick start for the Tichborne build. It had been panned for May, but the CEO of Habitat Greater Kingston and Frontenac left his job abruptly in early May for personal reasons. With a vacuum at the top of the small organization it was necessary to take a step back.

“There was also a problem with financing at the time, which has since been worked out with the bank,” said Tim Jamieson, who is the Vice-President of the Habitat Kingston Board and has stepped in as CEO until a permanent individual is hired, which is expected to happen within a month.

The Tichborne Habitat home should be ready for occupancy in the early part of 2014.

Kids love puppets and theatre and it was with that in mind that volunteers from the community, many of whom are veterans of the North Frontenac Little Theatre (NFLT), developed a summer puppet theatre workshop for kids of all ages. The program, called the North Frontenac Little Theatre Puppetry Program, was developed as a pilot project by Derek Redmond, Michel Alarcon and Kathy King with the assistance of Rob Moore, Roseanna Redmond and Pam Giroux, and the organizers hope to see it continue into the future.

The participants, which included nine local children of all ages, spent three days at the little white church in Tichborne, which is the home of the North Frontenac Little Theatre, creating puppets, designing sets and writing a puppet play that they will be performing on July 27.

The theme of the workshop centers around Tichborne's local train history and on the first day, which was July 13, local historian Lois Webster informed the participants about the history of the former train station in Tichborne and other buildings there. Following that visit the volunteers assisted the kids in making the puppets, which will be the main characters in the puppet show.

On the second workshop day, July 20, I visited the church and found the young participants busy finishing their puppets, designing the set, which includes one very cool and colourful cardboard train, and also writing the script of the play, which is a railroad story centered around summer cottagers taking the train to their cottages in Tichborne. The colourful puppets include one train engineer, a conductor, a passenger, a hobo, a dog, and a cow. According to Michel Alarcon, one of the program’s developers, the aim of the program was to engage children more in theatre arts. “Puppetry is a very magical thing that kids (and adults) can really relate to and this is another creative way that kids can take part in the theatre arts.” Alarcon said that he and his team are also hoping to offer a program in puppetry at the NFLT for adults as well.

Judging by the joyful buzz in the quaint little church on the day that I visited, it looks as though the program is definitely meeting its goals. “The kids are having a great time and we are hoping that this program becomes an ongoing one offered through the NFLT, with future workshops to take place in the spring and summer next year,” Alarcon said. The program has also come to the attention of members of council at the Township of Central Frontenac and organizers are hoping to be able to secure some funding to help develop ongoing puppetry theatre programs both for adults and children at the NFLT.

For those who love puppets and theatre, a one time performance of the play will take place at the NFLT's home in Tichborne on Saturday July 27 at 1:30PM.

The Ground Breaking Ceremony for the 2013 Tichborne Build will take place on Friday, July 26 at 2 pm. The ceremony will be taking place at the empty building lot on the west side of Road 38, south of the railroad tracks in Tichborne. A reception at the North Frontenac Little Theatre building in

Tichborne will take place after the ceremony.

This will mark the third home to be built towards the ambitious goal of eight houses that the local affiliate plans to build over five years. “We are well on our way to reaching our goal of eight homes in five years, but we will need the community’s support”, says Ron Darling, Chair of Habitat Kingston’s Board of Directors. “We will be able to achieve this with the help of our build volunteers, generous donations from our donors and the support from local individuals and businesses.”

As construction begins, Habitat Kingston continues to enlist volunteers and solicit donations for the home that will occupy the site on Hwy 38 in Tichborne. If community members, businesses or organizations would like more information on how to get involved, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Habitat Home Ownership Program is one way in which individuals and local businesses can help to solve the affordable housing problem in the Greater Kingston and Frontenac County communities.

Habitat Kingston has built homes in partnership with local families since 1995. The affiliate also owns and operates The ReStore (323 Bath Road, Kingston). The ReStore sells new and used building materials donated by individuals and businesses and its operations help to support the affiliate’s building program.

Habitat for Humanity Greater Kingston & Frontenac partners with families, businesses, organizations, and individuals to build simple, affordable, energy efficient homes. These homes are sold at fair market value to selected families through long term, no-interest mortgages. Families must demonstrate a need for improved housing, an ability to pay down a mortgage, and a willingness to contribute 500 hours of their own labour, known as  sweat equity”, to the building of their own house or the houses of others.

For more information: http://www.habitatkingston.com 613-548-8763 |This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Come out and show your support for Habitat for Humanity’s Tichborne Build this  Saturday (10am to 4pm) & Sunday (1pm to 5pm). “Quilts and Beyond” will be held at 1010 Lawn & Garden Centre, corner of Clement Rd. and Road 38. The greenhouse will also be open to purchase that special plant or shrub for your garden. 

Habitat for Humanity, with the support of the community, builds modest, affordable homes, then sells them to qualifying families, with no financial down payment and no interest on the mortgage. Habitat helps those who are helping themselves; hard working families striving to get ahead in our community.

During the “Quilts & Beyond” show, over 35 local quilts will be on display, along with other fabric arts including dolls, clothing, embroidery, hand hooked floor mats.    

Admission is $10 and includes a raffle ticket and some great homemade refreshments. Musical entertainment is provided throughout the day and will include Debbie Barkley, a well known local singer. 

We’ll also have a number of vendors selling their wares, such as Water’s Edge Pottery offering one of a kind functional pottery, Cecelia Slack with a number of handmade fabric articles, Debbie Emery who makes fabulous denim purses and wooden frames, and Betty Hunter with her handmade woollen products. 

This event is the kick off to the local team’s fundraising efforts in support of the Habitat Tichborne build. The show should be very interesting and a lot of fun; and we know everyone will enjoy the homemade goodies. 

Please come out and support our efforts to bring affordable housing to hard working families in our community! 

Also, if you would like to get involved with Habitat for Humanity in other ways, please contact Sharon Matthews at 613-375-8343, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  We are looking for people who can hammer nails, do landscaping or paint during the build; people who like organizing and fundraising; those who can make sandwiches for the workers; suppliers who can donate materials and contractors who can donate some time. We can use your help as we try to get Habitat working for our community.

Habitat for Humanity Kingston and Frontenac have found a building lot. It is in Tichborne right on Highway 38 and Habitat plans to build the first home in our community with your help this summer. Thank you to everyone who called with potential building lots. Your interest was very much appreciated and resulted in us being able to find a great lot.

Habitat makes the dream of homeownership affordable. As reported earlier, Habitat builds modest affordable homes and then sells them to working families with no cash down payment requirements and no interest on the mortgage. Habitat helps those who are helping themselves; those working hard and striving to get ahead.

Equally important, while the family who buys a home from Habitat wins, so does our community. The families' monthly mortgage payments get reinvested back into the community, and are used to build more homes for more families.

The first “build” should begin in earnest this June, but work is already underway. Pete Nedow of Nedow’s Construction worked with Habitat to open up the building lot last month and will be back to start the excavation and septic later in May. Pete has been a huge help already on this project.

Davy Well Drilling has also been on the job and the well is already in. Paracel Laboratories analyzed the water and McIntosh & Perry helped with the interpretation of the results. Steve Tarasick of Tarasick Carpentry is on the Build Committee to help guide the project.

We’re off to a great start! It’s contractor and supplier partners like these that step up and make a community project like this build possible.

And now that we finally have our first building lot, we’re looking for additional contractor & supplier partners able to donate some of their labour and/or materials to the project. If you’re a contractor or supplier and would like to assist, please give us a call at 613-375-8343.

Even at this early stage it is clear the community is supportive and it is our hope that more volunteers will step forward in the coming months to ensure the success of this build.

Habitat is gathering a list of local individual volunteers willing to work on the project. You don’t need to be a building expert to help. We need assistance in all areas, including general organizing, fundraising, and hands-on work such as drywalling or painting. If you want to help, we’ll find a job that fits your interests, just give us a call.

Your office, social group or church can also get involved, whether it be through small fundraising events, or, for example, supplying lunch sandwiches to volunteers when the build starts later this summer.

If you are interested in helping out, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone 613-375-8343.

Habitat would like to thank those who have already come forward and encourage those thinking about it to give us a call and get on our growing volunteer list. This is going to be a great build and it is going to make a huge difference in the lives of the family that gets to buy this home. Get involved!

We’ve also received lots of applications from potential homeowners and the Selection Committee is working their way through them. We’re very pleased with the level of interest shown and would like to thank everyone who has applied.