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The Meaning of Home

A house is a place with walls and windows, but home is a feeling. Habitat for Humanity builds houses, brings hope, and allows the love of people to flow through it, which transforms cold houses into warm homes. A house is a structure that can keep people dry and warm, but it lacks love. It lacks memories and it feels uninviting. Houses provide shelter, but without love, they cannot feel like homes. Sometimes people are forced to use several different houses but might not have one that feels like home. Without this personal connection, one can be left feeling unstable, like they are longing for something deeper that only a home can provide. In order to enhance a house into a home, love and support are required. While a home is also a place with walls and windows, it can offer so much more. Our homes are places where memories are created and relationships are nurtured. Homes offer stability and are places we can rely on in times of need. For me, home means time with family. It doesn’t matter if we’re all sitting in our living room reading, or watching a basketball game on the couch, as long as we’re spending time together, our house feels like a home. Habitat for Humanity provides communities with solid foundations, both physically and metaphorically. This allows people to both grow, as well as foster their connections into making a home. Whether one is celebrating a birthday or baking cookies with their family, it is the personal relationships that have been nourished that can magically transform four walls into a place to call home. The definition of this type of “home” is truly something that every person and every community deserves.

Claire

Grade 6

Peterborough, Ontario

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