Frequently Asked Questions

Great question if I do say so myself. Well here is a general time line:

1. In the beginning of the year is when the planning takes place. We are signing up sponsors and doing all the back ground work. We are also trying to organize all the main volunteers during this time.

2. During the next stage we will be accepting applications through our site, email, and the mail.

3. After the applications in our committees will review every single one of them.

4. We will post the top applications on our website and the voting will begin. Anyone will be able to log in using their email and vote once per day.

5. After the voting is completed our committees step in once again. The voting will have a weight of 40% and our committee will have a weight of 60%. Because this is a big event and will be a tough choice we need a bit of time.

6. When the winners are announced they will be moved out of their home and the demolition will begin!

7. The Grand Reveal, where we invite the community to come out and participate. We need everyone to help us “Move that Bus!”

One goal we are striving for is to ensure every single family hears about our event. We want to encourage every deserving family to apply. Applications are available to download every spring. Most sponsor locations also have a paper copy of the application.

Of course. We accept applications from anyone so if you know a deserving family feel free to nominate them. There is a special section in the application where you will fill out your information so we know who has nominated them.

No. You only have to have the title in your name if you are chosen as a first place winner. To receive any other prize you do not have to own a home.

The not so easy answer is no. The main gifts given away are brand new homes and we will not just base our decisions on financial need. This will be taken into consideration but there is long list of voting criteria we use.

Anyone can vote. You will need an email address to log in. We are allowing people to vote once a day so make sure you keep coming back to support the family you think should win.

We are awarding runner up prizes so you may win of those. If you are not chosen for any award we can direct you and put you in contact with organizations and government programs that might be of assistance.

We only accept one application from a family and will only look at one. Ensure the first one you send in is the best. If you are not chosen this year to win, please try again next year.

We would love to keep you in the loop. If you want to add your email address to our list we will send out updates on the event. We promise we do more than two emails a month and at any time you can unsubscribe through a link in the email. Check out the home page for an area to sign up. Another option is to keep visiting the Calendar of Events page to see upcoming activities.

We encourage anyone to help out. In the past we have had entire families help out which is a great way to have fun together. Obviously there will be certain tasks (mainly on the job site) where you will need to be 13 or over to help out but we are sure we can find anyone a task.

Not at all. You can provide us with the days and the times you are able to help out and we will organize tasks and jobs for you to help with. Every single hour you can spare is a great help and will not go unnoticed.

You bet. We have tasks for everyone which can include: people taking photos, helping at fundraisers, organizing food for volunteers, running errands, organizing, or best yet is joining one of our committees. If we positions for our committees you will see them posted in our Volunteer page.

Of course. We allow our sponsors to host a “Company” day and we would love for work places or other groups to be involved. We would even call it your day! What better way to bring your office or group of friends together. If you would like to find out what days we have available, just get in touch.

This is a great question. I know we all wish it grew on trees and as all non-profits and charities it is always a bit of a challenge raising funds. Well we are lucky here at Rebuilding Dreams because we have so many companies that care. The majority of our funding comes from businesses who donate their products and services to help out. Since they do so much for us we are hoping you will support them. Check out the Sponsors page to see more.

Of course most people have heard “cash is king” and it can be tough to do anything without the cash. This is where you come in. We accept donations and this is where our other funding comes from. Without donations this event would not be possible with just the sponsors so we encourage you to spread the word and help us raise some money. The Rebuilding Dreams Team hopes that in the coming years donations will exceed the sponsors generous gifts. Can you help us make this dream of ours a reality? To see more visit the Donate Now page.

Of course you could guess where most of the money and funding goes. You guessed it, to build homes! The funding and donations we receive are not only building new hope for the top families chosen but hundreds of thousands are to be given away to over a 100 runner up families. So many families every year will be changed forever.

To make an event this large run smooth we do need full time help. As per the well-used website www.charitynavigator.org our event is classified as a the highest class organization meeting the requirements to achieve a four star rating. Unfortunately they only have US charities but it still the same rating system for Canadian charities. What we are trying to say is you can be rest assured that our administration costs are well below normal than most charities. Most charities in Canada do not easily release the percentages to the public but we want to be as open as possible. Our administration costs are around estimate to be 6% this year. So this means that the majority of your money will go to help those who truly need it.

We have a page, Donate Now, where you are able to donate online. If you do not feel comfortable donating online we do accept cheques in the mail to our address listed on the Contact Us page. A great way to really show your support would be to come out to one of our fundraisers. You can view the fundraisers on our Calendar of Events page.

We believe that we are a perfect fit for companies like yours that love to give back. We also recognize that business is about making money to stay in business another day. That is why we offer great benefits at all levels of sponsorship to get your name out in the community. At Rebuilding Dreams we think we can offer you a great benefit while you do the right thing in changing another families life.

We do have sponsorship packages we can send out with further details. You can go to the Contact Us page and we will be sure to get back to you shortly.

Many people have asked us this question and believe it or not, almost all of our advertising is sponsored. We have been fortunate to partner with some great advertising and marketing businesses who believe in our dream as much as we do. Please show your support by visiting these companies today on our Sponsors page.

Well, you would be surprised to know that we have trained a room full of computers to think for themselves and run this – Ya right. Like you would believe that. We are people just like you who were tired of seeing people slip through the cracks and have lost all hope. When we first started this we knew that someone had to extend that arm out and give these families a second chance in life – A chance to start again and to be convinced that dreams do come true.

The current organizers can be found on The Team page and we encourage you to read our blogs and follow us as we live our dreams; Our dreams of helping others!

I wish we didn’t need them and could use the money to help more people. However, the reality is we need full time positions to help make this event as successful as it is. We have one of the lowest percentages compared to any other charity or non-profit and we plan to keep it that way. Of course we wouldn’t be able to do as much as we do if we didn’t have our wonderful volunteers. If you are interested in helping out please visit our Volunteer page.

The event was created in 2009 by Adam Hicks. Adam one day had a light bulb go off and started planning the event for his city of Regina. It turned out to bigger then he could have ever imagined with over 60 families applying, 80 businesses sponsoring the event, a few great fundraisers, many donations and hundreds of volunteers. They were able to help change The Culbert’s life forever. You can learn more about the founding year at www.ReginaExtremeHomeMakeover.com.

One fun fact that you might not believe about 2009 is the length of time it took to put together an event of this size. From the very first day Adam put his idea down on a napkin and started the calling to sponsors, to the day the house was revealed with the words “Move that bus!”, was only 4 months and 3 days. All I can say is imagine what can be done in a couple of years.

Actually another fun fact is that one steak night organized by Karen Allen raised over $14,000. I don’t think I have ever heard a steak night raising close to that much. Great work Karen!

We are in no way associated with the television show. The behind the scenes of our event is run a lot different on the show. Our entire event is run off of sponsorships and donations and we do not have a network backing us. We are not looking and trying to achieve ratings but rather we just ask for your support. One way to support the event is to join our email list. Check out the home page for an area to sign up.

We are not affiliated with Habitat for Humanity in anyway. The winners of Rebuilding Dreams receive absolutely everything for FREE! We do not charge them a penny and do not require anything in return from the families. Habitat is a little different in that they build these homes for low income families but require them to pay the mortgage back. It’s a good program where the families get an interest-free mortgage and do not require a down payment. We know that your time is valuable and you have to choose carefully where you donate your time to but I can assure you that you will not be disappointed with the Rebuilding Dreams Team. We will show Canada how to come together as one and rebuild hope in every home! Volunteer now!