A lot can go into making a gingerbread house, depending on how much fun you’re having or how beautiful you want it to be.
Creating the structure is a precarious task. There’s the risk of collapse, which can ruin hours of hard work in a moment. And then there are the endless finer details to be added, like iced house trimmings, snow-frosted windows and fondant figurines.
For Cheryl Chalifour and Margie Edwards, making a gingerbread house is a labour of love and one they jubilantly put in hundreds of volunteer hours for. And the motivation behind that immense dedication is to help a good cause. And also a healthy competitive spirit.
“We need lots of detail,” said Chaliflour. “That’s what’s going to win it.”
Chaliflour is executive director of Parkwood Place retirement home in Victoria and Margie Edwards is the director of administrative services. Together they are carrying on the almost decade-long Parkwood Place tradition of entering Habitat for Humanity’s annual Gingerbread Showcase.
“Gingerbread Showcase is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” said volunteer and events coordinator Jaime Wilson. “There’s going to be over 26 gingerbread creations that are 100-per-cent edible and we couldn’t do it without organizations like Parkwood Place helping.”
The theme that sponsors have to have in mind when designing this year is “family traditions.”
It seems Chaliflour and Edwards, who guided a team of eight gingerbread enthusiasts, had no shortage of inspiration and joy in capturing the theme. What they’ve created is a miniature re-creation of the retirement home, drawing on its Christmas celebrations in the lobby. They captured heartwarming details and miniature likenesses by making figurines out of fondant.
“Bob is one of the residents who plays the piano,” Edwards said, pointing with a grin to the edible miniature piano in the middle. “And it actually looks like Bob.”
Chaliflour further explains the inspiration behind the scene.
“We think of Parkwood Place as a family and we talk to our residents about it all the time: you’re our extended family,” said Chaliflour. “So this is what our family of Parkwood Place does traditionally every Christmas. We actually make a little gingerbread display in the lobby and have tea and cakes and decorate the tree.”
It’s Chaliflour’s third year participating in the Habitat for Humanity tradition, and this year everyone is a little teary-eyed. A beloved past sales and marketing coordinator, Kathy Ajas, who had originally led the project, recently passed away from cancer.
“I do want to recognize Kathy as this was a part of her legacy,” said Chaliflour. “She just passed away about a month ago.”
“It starts to choke me up, I’m going to start crying,” said Chaliflour. “I’m tearing up too because she was a wonderful lady … So I honour Kathy in creating this in her legacy that we’ll continue.”
It’s a legacy that is clearly important to Chaliflour, who was already working on this year’s project in September. The cause is one she is passionate about, and it’s also important to many of the residents.
“There are so many awesome seniors here who promote younger people to also be able to have a home because it’s the younger generation right now who are struggling. I don’t even know how my daughters are going to be able to afford a home without help?” said Chaliflour.
“Yeah, two of my adult daughters still live at home,” Edwards added.
The fundraiser helps pay for projects like Habitat for Humanity’s new ownership of a property in Central Saanich, Wilson said.
“We will hopefully break ground in 2024 and it will be another multi-family complex like our last one was,” Wilson said.
This year, the Gingerbread Showcase takes place in the Hotel Grand Pacific lobby for the first time ever. Parkwood Place will be vying for top honours in categories like Best First Impression and Most Diverse Use of Ingredients, which they could have a shot at. As an example, they used peas, lentils and chocolate rocks to create the ground texture, and popeye sticks to provide structural support to the staircase, which was created out of twelve layers of gingerbread.
Wilson said that the detail and effort that she sees each year from sponsors is amazing and she is inspired by Parkwood Place’s entry.
“The effort is tremendous. You can see the hundreds of hours that they have put into this creation,” Wilson said. “We can’t thank them enough for creating this and putting in the time and caring about our charity and families in the community.”
These wonderful creations will be on display at the Gingerbread Showcase, running from Nov. 25 to Jan. 4, 2024 at Hotel Grand Pacific. In exchange for a donation to Habitat for Humanity Victoria, viewers can register a vote for their favourite. Online voting is also available. All funds raised will support Habitat’s mission.
For more information or to view images from last year’s Showcase, visit habitatvictoria.com/gingerbread.
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