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Award-winning author Yann Martel isn’t interested in gleaning publicity for his acts of charity. “The point is to help … not bring attention to me,” he says. “We learn by seeing what others do.”

What Martel did was partner with the Mennonite Central Committee last year to offer a house he owned for refugee newcomers.

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It all started with Martel trying to decide what to do with the little house he and his partner Alice Kuipers bought when they first moved to Saskatoon.

The house is a clapboard structure built in 1912. The rooms are relatively small, there’s only one bathroom, and the walls were insulated only with newspaper. Martel and Kuipers did a lot of work improving the house, developing a yard and garden, and making it a home for themselves and the first three of their four children.

“The house had a nice feel to it,” Martel says. “It was cozy … too cozy when the children started coming. My partner and I both work at home, so we upgraded to a bigger house. But what to do with the old place?”