Local contractor hopes to help household in need with $10,000 home improvement giveaway – Kamloops News

Photo: Sascha Porteous / Live Timber

A local contractor is looking to give away a $10,000 home improvement project to someone in need.

A Kamloops contractor offering up a free home improvement project worth $10,000 says he is hoping to fill a need for someone in the community.

Sascha Porteous, owner of Live Timber, said he wants the giveaway to help make someone’s home better or safer for them.

“I know that there’s a lot of people out there who have real needs who can’t afford a contractor, or can’t afford to hire someone to help them in their house,” Porteous said. “I thought this would be a good opportunity for us to give back to the community.”

Live Timber has been operating for eight years. Porteous said he and his two employees take on custom furniture and millwork projects, but the main focus of his business is renovations.

He said the $10,000 giveaway could go towards accessibility upgrades, or to help someone’s family home become more liveable.

“If someone is maybe just gotten into a wheelchair, maybe they need an accessibility ramp to go up to their house, or maybe they need larger interior doors. So it could mean swapping out [and] replacing a couple of larger doors,” he said.

Porteous said Live Timber could fix part of a house that’s in disrepair, such as an unsafe deck, or take on a project to help make a home more functional.

“It could be used for somebody that has a growing family, maybe they’ve got a basement where there’s no bedrooms so we could maybe dig a hole and and cut in a window so that we could create another safe living space,” he said.

“I understand that $10,000 isn’t going to give someone a new kitchen or anything like that, but we’re trying to find somebody who has a real need.”

Live Timber will be accepting nominations until Aug. 31 and a winner will be selected within the first week of September.

Porteous said he’ll be taking a look at the applications to determine which one will be the best fit based on the $10,000 budget, the feasibility of the project and the need of the nominee.

“I would just encourage people to think of people in their life that need a little bit of help, and hopefully they take time to nominate them because this can make a big difference, I think, in somebody’s life,” he said.

Nominees must either own the property or have written permission from their landlord for the home improvement project. Properties must be located within Kamloops city limits.

Visit Live Timber’s website to find out more information on the home improvement giveaway, and to nominate a deserving household to receive the $10,000 prize.