Brandon Heyer鈥檚 apprentice carpentry students would typically be spending this semester building a tiny home 鈥� a pint-sized domicile.
It鈥檚 a good project for learning, since other than the foundation, all the skills that go into a tiny home are the same as for a full-sized home, said Heyer, whose Saanich School District program includes Grade 11 and 12 students from Claremont, Parkland and Stelly鈥檚 secondaries.
The problem this year is that COVID-19 hasn鈥檛 allowed Heyer and his nine-person class to get together and build 鈥� their tiny home, with a base of eight feet by 24 feet, was started and then halted when everyone was sent home by the pandemic.
These days, the focus is on distance learning. So Heyer came up with the idea to have his students build sandboxes at home instead. He even made them a how-to video.
They were given a week and a half to complete the project.
The eight sandboxes are being given away in a draw, and winners will be asked to make a donation to the Saanich Peninsula Lions Food Bank in return. The draw winners can donate either money or food.
Heyer said he is pleased to be supporting the food bank during the COVID-19 pandemic.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e needed a lot more and there鈥檚 a lot more people accessing them right now.鈥�
Grade 11 student Hayden Leslie liked having the chance to help others with what he was able to make. He also enjoyed making something that families can use to keep their children entertained in a time when they don鈥檛 have their regular school routine.
For the students, getting a home-based assignment was just what they needed, Heyer said 鈥� even if making sandboxes is 鈥渘ot quite as exciting鈥� as building a tiny home.
鈥淭he general consensus when I dropped all the materials off to them at home was that they鈥檙e all pretty bored, because there鈥檚 not much for them going on right now, so they鈥檙e all happy for something to do.鈥�
Heyer also dropped off tools to those who needed them.
鈥淭his was one way for me to get them working hands-on and using the skills that they鈥檝e learned, both how to read blueprints and come up with the project.鈥�
There was a big response from people putting their names in the sandbox draw, which has now closed.
Heyer will deliver the sandboxes next week.
鈥淲e have over 350 entries, which is a lot more than we were expecting, which is great.鈥�
