Thirteen volunteers from across Canada were in Whitehorse last week to help with the local Habitat for Humanity builds in Whistle Bend.

The group was the first to travel under Habitat's new Canada Builds program, which sends volunteers to various places across the country to help out local chapters.

Out of 11 teams set to travel through Canada Builds this summer, five are coming to the Yukon, said Stu Mackay, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity Yukon.

"I think it's a very unique opportunity for people,” he said.

"Not only do we get a chance to share what we're doing up here in terms of building, we also have an opportunity to showcase the cultural diversity and obviously the great natural beauty we have with people from across Canada.”

Working for five days last week, the group helped out with the finishing touches on one of the duplexes in Whistle Bend, working on trim, landscaping, and siding.

"All of a sudden, here you've got 26 extra hands to do a lot of work in a short amount of time,” Ernie Fraser, the team leader, said Friday afternoon.

"People come in with good energy, the skill sets range quite broadly, but it's just having that horsepower, so to speak, for a concerted period of time.”

Fraser explained that Habitat's approach is to offer a "hand up and not a hand out.”

"It's not about free housing for people, it's very much about filling a gap in the housing situation for people. People who are making higher incomes who are able to afford houses on their own; they wouldn't qualify for a program like this.

"Other people on the very low end of the scale get government programs to assist them. There's a lot of people who are working people with an income but the whole idea of home ownership isn't possible for them,” he said.

Last week's group ranged in age from early 20s to 70s.

Marion Toews, the eldest volunteer, travelled from Saskatchewan to help out on the Whistle Bend build.

She's been "volun-touring” since 1998, when she went to China to teach English, the first of 17 volunteer trips she's taken.

She's also done more than five habitat builds, which have taken her from Jamaica to Kenya and now to the Yukon.

It's a "splendid way to learn geography and meet new people,” she said, adding that it's an enriching way to travel.

"Until Sunday (June 15), most of us didn't know each other, and you can tell now we've gotten acquainted,” she said, as her co-volunteers mingled in the close-to-completed kitchen.

Victoria Avey, 20, hails from Kingston, Ont.

She recently completed a carpentry program at St. Lawrence College and thought the Habitat program would be a good opportunity to test her skills, so she and her mom, who's done a build before, signed up for the Yukon trip.

"I can't get over the views,” Avey said.

Over the course of last week, she helped out with the window returns, window casings, and placing the trim around the door – a win-win for Avey and Habitat for Humanity Yukon.