小蓝视频

YORKTON – Elgin Strocen was a man who “looked to give back to his community by combining his passion for woodworking and wildlife into building birdhouses for people in exchange for donations to the Cancer Foundation”, according to the man's obituary.

Scott Sharpe and Theron Smith, who knew Strocen through his volunteer work with the Yorkton Wildlife Federation, are looking to follow in the footsteps of their friend by continuing on with his charitable work.

"He passed, and we saw it as a possibility of [the birdhouse construction] ending,” said Sharpe, adding, “[we saw it as] a chance for us to maybe hang out and build some bird houses and maybe do a bit of good at the same time.”

Sharpe, a former electrician, said that it was about five years ago that Strocen started building Birdhouses for Brayden Ottenbreit Close Cuts for Cancer, a local nonprofit organization that raises money for cancer research.

The fundraising effort, 'Cancer is for the Birds', features pre-built birdhouses made of Oriented strand board – seven inches wide, 13.5 inches high, and nine inches deep. They come unfinished so the people purchasing them can customize the colour.

“In past years lumber yards had been donating scrap material and this year there wasn't much of it,” said Sharpe, adding this year Close Cut's purchased the materials for the birdhouse builders.

“They're pretty plain-Jane, OSB plywood birdhouses,” said Smith, a carpenter and owner of Vulcan Construction and Renovation.

Sharpe said the two volunteered their time over the course of a weekend and built 200 of the birdhouses at Smith's shop, remarking that Smith was much faster at the building process than he was.

The houses were then supplied to Close Cuts, something Strocen had been doing for several years.

“He was actually building them until about three weeks before he passed,” said Sharpe, adding, “it was pretty important for him to get that year's supply in place before he was gone.”

Sharpe took a moment to reflect on the passing of his friend.

“As I look back, he was very much what a young man needs – [someone to give you] the space to act like a grown up until you've proven that you haven't acted like a grown up,” said Sharpe with a laugh.

Sharpe said it's currently just himself and Smith constructing the birdhouses, but others have shown interest.

“It's just the two of us right now,” said Sharpe, adding, “I've had people reach out and say that they would like to help next year.”

“Some of them knew Elgin and some of them had lost someone to cancer,” said Sharpe, “they thought it would be kind of cool to be involved.”

“For me, personally, I lost my Dad to cancer,” said Sharpe.

“It's pretty hard to find someone who hasn't had a person in their life who hasn't had cancer,” said Smith.

“I know his family is appreciating this because they've always been proud of him and it's nice to be recognized,” said Sharpe.

Details on how to purchase the birdhouses can be found on Brayden Ottenbreit Close Cuts for Cancer Facebook page.