Earlier this year, as an organization, we were put in a position we had never been before and urgent donations were needed to support our families who had lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Many of our Habitat families in Southern Alberta are vulnerable due to the type of the jobs they hold in a sector now known as “front line.” Thanks to your donation Habitat was able to assist working families with mortgage-relief and other support at a time when they needed it most.

Thank you to our donors, for helping working families who were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

We would like to share the stories of two families who required mortgage-relief support at the outbreak of the pandemic. These two families have since regained their self-sufficiency. To respect confidentiality, their names have been removed.

This is her story

A recently divorced single mother who has two children leads this family: a girl age 10 and a teenage boy age 18. This mother worked at Leon’s, the furniture store, as a sales clerk. When the pandemic broke out and businesses were shut-down to flatten the curve, the store closed.

This mother, along with others at the store, were laid-off. She called Habitat for assistance as she needed help with mortgage relief as well as other household expenses for her two children and herself.

She continued looking for work throughout the period and was able to obtain a new job in a similar role. Her new job pays less; and at the beginning, gave her fewer hours than she needed to support her family and herself. When her number of work hours increased, she informed us she no longer needed mortgage-relief assistance, even though her pay per hour remained low.

She thanks donors for helping her at a time when she needed it. The mortgage-relief support decreased the stress that she and her children felt during the uncertainties of COVID-19.

This is his story

This family is made up of dual-parents and three children. The father is the working parent and the mother is staying at home at this time. The daughter is 13 and the two boys are 9 and 8.

The father worked as a personal care assistant at a long-term care facility. Unfortunately, there was a COVID-19 outbreak at this facility and he received official directives from his employer and Alberta Health Services to self-quarantine at home. It was confirmed that he was exposed to a facility resident who had COVID-19.

This parent was an hourly worker and the entire family relied on his income for all household expenses from housing, food to supplies for children.

The father called Habitat to inquire for assistance for the period until he could return to work, which was uncertain at the time of his inquiry, as he did not know if he had caught the virus, if he would get sick or how sick he would get if he did.

Thanks to donors, Habitat was able to provide this family with mortgage-relief and other support at a time when Habitat’s main income streams had been shut-down due to the pandemic.

This father returned to work shortly after his quarantine period and informed us he no longer requires mortgage-relief assistance.

Similarly, he expressed his deepest thanks to donors for the mortgage-relief help he received when he and his family needed it.

Thanks to you, families continue to move in this year

In addition to providing mortgage relief to our current families, thanks to you, we were able to continue building and refurbishing homes in 2020. This year, 17 families moved into Habitat homes - that's 41 children whose lives will never be the same. As well, 11 new families were welcomed into partnership and we are expecting three more by the end of the year.

Families continue to request mortgage relief and we continue to need the community’s financial support to help families.  Thanks to you we know what’s possible in a pandemic.

2020 will be remembered for many things. For these families they will remember it as the year a generous donor helped them through an incredibly challenging time.

Thank you.