Builder Baseball Charity Tournament Raises $39,000

The annual Builder Baseball Charity Tournament, supporting Habitat for Humanity, went down last week, with a total of 27 teams competing to bring home the top prize, which is just bragging rights until next year. The real prize of the event is the GTA new home industry coming together to support an incredible cause.

Last year, the tournament raised over $30,000, and this year, that amount was surpassed by a large margin, with $39,000 raised! There were many sponsors involved; a few of the Gold sponsors were the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), Enbridge, Fieldgate Homes, HOMES Publishing Group, and The Toronto Star. A few other builders that sponsored the tournament were Aspen Ridge Homes, OPUS Homes, and Sorbara Group.

Other builders and developers that had teams included Altus Group, Arista Homes, Ballantry Homes, Brookfield Residential, Eurodale Developments, Lindvest, Monarch, Stateview Homes, and Tribute Communities.

"OPUS has been looking forward to Builder Baseball since we played in the first year of the tournament last June,” said Andrea DeGasperis-Ronco, Principal at OPUS Homes. “There's nothing better than spending a beautiful day outside fostering team spirit while raising money for a great cause."

In addition to the intense baseball games, there was a barbecue lunch with porchetta, beer and ice cream, and there was a live band playing. After lunch, everyone relaxed for a bit and listened to some more tunes until dinner rolled around. The day was capped off by a trophy presentation and the total donation was presented to Habitat for Humanity.

Building affordable homes in Canada

Habitat for Humanity has a long history of providing affordable, decent, and safe homes for those in need. Since 1976, Habitat has provided shelter for around 3 million people around the world. To accomplish this, they rely on strategic partnerships and volunteers from the communities in which they build.

In 1985, Habitat for Humanity Canada completed its first home. By 1993, the 100th home was built in Saskatchewan. The 200th was built in New Brunswick in 1996, the 300th was built in Quebec in 1998, and the 400th was completed in the year 2000. From that point on, the ball just kept rolling, and there are now over 2,700 families in Canada that have been provided with an affordable home thanks to Habitat for Humanity.

We think it’s amazing that so many of the GTA’s new home industry professionals got involved this year, and we bet that next year the tournament will be even bigger! Maybe it’ll be a two-day event in 2016; we’re sure everyone would love one extra day off work to play ball and chew some sunflower seeds out in the sun.