In the community, it's known as the Y Dream Home, but to TRU School of Trades and Technology and the local Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA), builders of the Dream Home, it's known as the Training House.
2025 marks the thirty-fifth consecutive year of successful collaboration between TRU and CHBACI. The Training House offers a unique opportunity to benefit both organizations as well as the community at large through the YMCA/YWCA programs funded by the proceeds from the Dream Home lottery.
TRU's building trades students are directly engaged in the construction of the Training House, taking the knowledge gained in the classroom and learning to apply it in the real world.
The carpentry students, under the guidance of instructor Tim Kasten are tasked with building the foundation and framing the shell of the house up to the lock-up stage.
The students' experience on the work site goes beyond practical application of classroom knowledge. They also learn there's more to a construction site than building. Coping with bad weather, unanticipated scheduling delays, even finding reliable transportation to and from work, are as much part of the job as putting together the pieces to create a house.
While a student may not think dealing with these aggravations constitute much by way of marketable experience, it makes a favorable impression on future employers when they know an employee is able to overcome the kinds of adversity common to every construction site.
Along with supporting the next generation of tradespeople, the Kamloops residential construction industry benefits from the Training House through the opportunity to showcase new products and services as well as give back to the people who support their businesses.
Public adoption of the latest technologies and techniques in housing construction is a fairly slow process. A house is a big investment and not many are willing to take a risk on the unknown. Those limitations don't exist in the Training House. When the public tours the house during the Dream Home lottery they see for themselves what these enhancements can do to promote the livability of a home. When it's time for them to build or buy, they will be looking for those same features.
The men and women who make up the construction industry are first and foremost members of the Kamloops community. Their generous donations and sponsorship reflect their support of the aims and objectives of TRU and the YMCA/YWCA. And in the magic way of giving, what they offer through their businesses is received back in abundance. From TRU, they receive skilled tradespeople as assets to their businesses. From the YMCA/YWCA, they receive community services that improve their own and their family's personal quality of life.
Each year, there is only one person publicly declared the winner of the Dream Home. Behind the scenes, there are hundreds of winners. All because they built a house.