Their new Habitat home for the the holidays
The gift of safe housing was both received and given at Oshawa non-profit
After their holiday dinner last year, Fiona Church took her two young daughters on a drive to see neighbourhood Christmas lights. The girls were puzzled when their mother stopped outside a partially built Oshawa townhouse that was dark, except for a single string of lights.
“They said, ‘Where are we going?’ and were getting impatient, and wanted to go back to play with their gifts,” recalled Church, 34. That’s when she told them the unfinished home, part of Habitat for Humanity GTA’s Centre Towne build, was their future home.
“They were ecstatic. They couldn’t believe it. It was the biggest surprise ever.”
The family got the keys to their threebedroom home this past October, along with three other Habitat families. Church has come a long way in the four years since she and her girls left a difficult relationship with just four bags of belongings. They moved into a women’s shelter and, while working multiple jobs, Church saved enough to rent a small apartment where she slept in the laundry room so her daughters could share the one bedroom.
While driving home from work at the Ajax Convention Centre one night, she heard a radio ad for the non-profit’s ReStore and realized a Habitat home might be an option for her family — and applied. On December 5, 2019, the Habitat staff called her.
“They brought me to the build site, and the volunteers were there and told me we’d been selected as a partner family. It was two days before my daughter Alice’s birthday. They asked if I was going to tell her on her birthday, but I wanted to keep it a secret until Christmas.
“It’s going to be absolutely amazing to be able to spend our first Christmas in the house this year!” Church said. “I never knew I’d come out of this with more than a house. I’ve gained a community and a family.”
Originally, Church and her girls were scheduled to take occupancy in May, but the pandemic delayed construction at the site, Habitat’s CentreTowne Phase 5 build. The project was launched in 2014 and the 24townhouse community, which includes homes for Indigenous families, will soon be completed.
Another 50-unit Habitat site in a different Oshawa location is currently undergoing site plan approval.
One of Church’s neighbour families recently moved into
their Habitat townhome dubbed the “Penny House.” It’s named for the four-year penny drive undertaken by Uxbridge teen Joshua Morrison, 19, who raised $125,000 of the funds needed to build the residence.
“I kept saying I have to reach this goal, even if it takes 10 years,” said Morrison, who was 11 when he began collecting and adopted the motto: “Hard is not synonymous with impossible.” His fundraising idea was inspired by a Habitat ReStore that was collecting pennies to contribute to a home build. He talked to his teachers and school principal, and set a goal to raise $100,000 — 10 million pennies — in four years, not realizing how daunting that goal was.
After raising 30,000 pennies through his school, Morrison sought out media coverage and went to other schools to talk about his efforts.
Word of his drive spread and culminated in a fundraising Family Fun Fair and Spaghetti Dinner in 2016. That December, he reached $100,000; by February 2017, the total reached $125,000.
This year, he volunteered on the build site and met the partner family that received the Penny House. “It was very satisfying,” said Morrison, who is now a community leader in residence at the University of Victoria, where he is studying biology. A door made with some of the pennies he raised hangs in the house in recognition of his efforts.
Wayne Dempsey, vice-president of construction for Habitat for Humanity GTA, says Durham’s Habitat office merged with the GTA organization this past spring, which helped to boost funding and expedite work on the homes. Even though COVID-19 slowed progress, the homes had roofs on prior to the pandemic breakout, and tradespeople were eventually able to get in to complete work — though the usual large celebration held when families receive their keys had to be downscaled.
To be selected for a Habitat home, families must be living in need of better housing, willing to partner with Habitat and be able to afford mortgage payments. They must also put in 500 hours of sweat equity, either on-site, volunteering at a ReStore or fundraising.
Church helped out in a ReStore, and she and her daughters held an event that raised $2,000. But what she enjoyed most was working on-site with Habitat volunteers and her new neighbours.
“I used to drive a tractor (she worked in landscaping) and drive heavy equipment, but I had to be shown how to use a hammer,” said Church. “Within a day, I was using the saws and building walls.
“I learned so much and the experience was amazing.” She says learning those skills helped her land her current job with a property management company.
Now that they’ve settled in, Church’s daughters Andrea, 6, has a Hello Kitty theme in her room while Alice, 9, has dedicated hers to her favourite pop star, Michael Jackson.
They’ve been busy making Christmas crafts and decorating the tree.
“I would never have been able to own a home without Habitat,” Church said.
“It was a really empowering experience and I respect the volunteers so much. I established great relationships with them all and they are like a second family; it’s the same with my neighbours.”