Thank you to the 101 supporters who donated 
$1000 or more to collectively raise over $126k to help build
a home for single mom Amanda and her two boys

Each $1000 donor was celebrated and recognized as follows:

  • An invitation to participate in a $100k Women Build Day.
  • An invitation to attend the Key Ceremony presenting the family with the keys to their new home!
  • An invitation to an exclusive celebration for the 100 women.
  • Promotion as a $100k participant through traditional and social media.
  • A special and exclusive key charm thank you gift.
  • A tax receipt for the entire $1,000 contribution.
Each of the 100 women received a special handcrafted key charm made by local jeweller Creole

Why Your Donation Matters

Greater Victoria has one of the most expensive residential markets in the country. Struggling to make ends meet means that many local parents cannot provide a safe, decent and affordable place for their children to live, let alone build any equity or savings for the future. They’re caught in a cycle of poverty.

Habitat’s Homeownership Program works to change that reality by making affordable homeownership possible for local low-income families. Together with volunteers, funders, in-kind contributors of product and labour, and YOU – women who want to effect change – Habitat builds homes to sell to families that meet our charity’s criteria.

After purchasing their home through a no-interest loan, our partner families make mortgage payments that go into our revolving Fund for Humanity to help build the next Habitat home. It’s a powerful “pay-it-forward” model!

Picture
Our current project, a four-unit townhome at 4000 Cedar Hill Cross Road
PictureAmanda and her children's home will be built by the proceeds of this campaign!
AMANDA'S STORY...
Meet Amanda, a single mom with two boys aged 3 and 12. Over the past decade, Amanda and her children have had to move 10 times.  "My oldest boy has attended four different schools, making it hard for him to have lasting friendships." She has uprooted her family because of unfit living conditions and increasingly unaffordable rents, spending as much as 70% of her income on housing. If it hadn't been for the support of her family, there wouldn't have been much left for food and clothing for the children. "I have a good job in the health profession but it is a real challenge each month to make ends meet."

Amanda applied to purchase a Habitat home in July 2014 and was approved last September. "When I found out I had been accepted as a Habitat future home owner, I was over the moon! I never thought I would be in a position to own a home," she enthused. She has been a committed volunteer with Habitat since then. "I have been helping out on the work site whenever there are team build days and I come into the ReStore or help at community events on my days off. I plan to continue volunteering with Habitat Victoria for the long term so that I can help provide a hand up to other families in similar circumstances."

The mother of two brings her children past the worksite often so they can see how their future home is coming along. Setting down roots in their own home will allow Amanda to give her children a better future. She knows that when her boys have grown up, they will remember playing in their neighbourhood, making lasting friendships and enjoying happy memories in their own home.

Who Habitat Victoria Serves

To qualify for a Habitat home, families must meet three core criteria:
  • Be living in need of better housing
  • Have the ability to re-pay the interest-free mortgage
  • Partner with Habitat by contributing 500 volunteer hours of “sweat equity”
Additionally, families must:
  • Have a household income between $34,000 - $60,000
  • Have at least two minor children living with them
  • Have lived in Greater Victoria for at least one year
  • Be Canadian Citizens or Permanent Residents

How Your Donation Helps

Habitat builds homes from the ground up. The cost of the land and construction are raised from the community through individual donors, companies, other funders, and through volunteer labour and donated products.

When a home is complete, all the funds required to build it should have been secured. The home is then SOLD at the full fair market value to the Partner Family, who begin to pay an INTEREST-FREE mortgage that is correlated to not exceed 30% of their household income each year.

These mortgage payments go into our revolving Fund for Humanity to buy more land and build more homes. This means that a Habitat Partner Family, simply by paying their mortgage, are not only building equity in their own home, they are helping the next Habitat family into their home! What a powerful “pay-it-forward” model.

Habitat is able to put donated funds directly into its build program because it self-generates its operational costs through its ReStore. The ReStore accepts and sells 100% donated new and gently used building supplies and household goods. Net proceeds from the ReStore cover the administrative costs of operating the charity.

Thanks to our 
$100k Women!

Sybil Verch Raymond James
Mayor Lisa Helps
Elizabeth Vannan MNP
Susan Froher Tony Joe & Associates  
Michelle Colussi M. Colussi Consulting
Colleen Kovacs Broadmead Legal Centre
Joan Peggs The Woodbury Apartments
Joan Rossa M.D.Charlton Co. 
Susanna Crofton RE/MAX Camosun
Deb Cater Cakes etc.
Hilary Mackey In Memory of Dorothy Baine
Duff Pennie In Memory of Sandra Pennie
Lois Dutton Duttons & Co. Real Estate Ltd.
Angela Bone In Memory of Diane Morris 
Jane Spencer Fabrications
Dr. Hildebrand Dr. Nadja Hildebrand Inc.
Cheryl Woolley DFH Real Estate Ltd.
Kristil Hammer Clay & Company 
Kay Melbye Brown Henderson Melbye
Sandy McManus DFH Real Estate Ltd.
Sarah Cunningham In Honor of 
Gillian Cunningham  & Tanya Stewart  
Angela Cote M&M Meat Shops
Tannis Wightman In Memory 
of Donna Niemy
Amelia Warren Epicure
Sylvia Sigurdson Mortgage Depot
Cheryl Sharpe Fun Fashions Inc.
Yolanda Meijer Habitat Victoria
Nancy Taylor Habitat Victoria 
Team Langford Home Depot
CHEK News Team
Heart Pharmacy Team
Janis Ringuette
Beverley King
Marilyn Rook
Jill Braybrook
Dorothy Harvey
Brita Zuk
Patricia Young
Tara Douglas
Sandra Stott
E Marilynne Harris
Barbara Baillie
Claudia Blum
 Marilyn Norman
Donna Morrissey
Trudy Duivenvoorden Mitic
Joan Anne Forsyth
Jenifer Chilcott
Linda Bilach
Joan Caradus
Joy Olesky
Stacey Olesky Locke
Colleen Sparks
Gina Gillberg
Lenore Morrey
Ann Gargett
Melody Birch
Alexandra Brown
Kate Moran
Marilyn MacLean Denton
Nichola Wade
Carmen Charette
Jan Mears
Glenna Duguid
Janice Mason
Jo-Ann Roberts and friends
Rudolph Hoemsom
 Anonymous (34)

A Special Thank You to:

100.3 The Q!
Creole Design 
Dee van Straaten
Patricia Wade Design
Black Press