On January 15, 2024, the Home Share Drumheller project officially launched in the Drumheller region (including Starland County).
The project is led by Community Futures Big Country, in partnership with Town of Drumheller, Travel Drumheller, and Drumheller & District Chamber of Commerce. Home Share Drumheller empowers residents to become part of a community-based solution to the local housing shortage.
As one local host, Virginia explains, “I feel like I’m being able to pay it forward to assist people beginning as well as continuing their careers, allowing them to gain valuable experience in their fields, and maintaining our economy.”
Community Futures Big Country secured grant funding from the Prairies Rural Opportunities Fund (ROF 2.0) to introduce Home Share Drumheller to the region. Working in partnership with Happipad and Canada HomeShare, an online platform was launched to facilitate the home sharing process. The platform vets both renters and hosts, provides background checks, prepares appropriate legal contracts, and works to ensure compatibility matching. Virginia, who has welcomed tenants into her home for decades is appreciative of the platform, “it makes the screening and contracts easy and removes the burden of the money talk and collection… it makes the process easy to navigate and makes home sharing successful.”
Home Share Drumheller offers a solution to homeowners with an extra room to rent, employers looking for staff accommodations, renters looking for a room, or seniors who would benefit from a helpful tenant. Funding is available to the first 50 homeowners who sign onto the home share platform and are matched with renters. Grant funding will continue to cover program fees through to March 31, 2026.
Alison Roppel, Project Coordinator with Home Share Drumheller is encouraged by what she is seeing, “We now have 33 hosts registered, along with 47 renters, and 12 completed rental contracts–the response from the community has been really positive and we’re ahead of our expectations.” Alison hopes that homeowners and their tenants will share their positive experiences and that awareness about the program will continue to grow. She adds, “I’m really impressed, homeowners are opening their doors and getting involved, it really speaks to the warmth and willingness of this community.”

A great Drumheller Christmas tradition that bridges the gap between area seniors and the youth of the community is returning.
The annual Rotary Seniors Dinner is slated for December 12 at the Badlands Community Facility.
This was a long tradition instigated by DCHS, but is now in the hands of the community. This is a full Christmas dinner with all the fixings for area seniors, hosted by Drumheller students.
“This is the second year at the BCF, and the second year after a four-year hiatus,” explains Tom Zariski. He says the Rotary Club is the naming sponsor but it's supported by many different community groups.
The new-look Seniors Dinner has the advantage of having students from all three local schools participate in hosting, escorting and serving. Students from Greentree School also participate by making hand-made placemats for the seniors.
“One of the hits from last year is the decorations and placemats made by Greentree School, those were just priceless. We literally had seniors folding them up and taking them home afterwards,” said Zariski
Last year students served 285 seniors at the dinner, and they are aiming to host 300.
While the facility could hold a few more, Zariski explains they also make sure the hall is presented in such a way that it is easy for seniors to navigate. Seniors are able to start registering for the dinner.
Zariski says there are sign-up sheets at Pioneer Trail Centre.
They can also contact the Town of Drumheller Seniors coordinator Karen Schneck at 403-823-1317 to sign up.