One hundred local women have pledged $1,000 towards a Habitat for Humanity project in Saanich that will provide a home for a single mother and her two boys.
This past February, Habitat for Humanity Victoria launched an ambitious fundraising campaign to raise $100,000 in 100 days by encouraging 100 local women to donate $1,000 each. Just over 100 days later, the organization reached is goal of $100,000 with 100 women pledging support.
The full amount raised was $109,000, all of which will go directly into funding construction the home for a local single mom, one of four homes being built at 4000 Cedar Hill Cross Rd. The charity covers its administrative overhead through the net proceeds of its ReStore, which sells new and gently used building supplies, appliances and home goods.
The campaign was launched to help build a home for Amanda, a single mom of two young boys. Even though Amanda has a stable job, she’d had to uproot her family multiple times in the last 10 years because of unfit living conditions and increasingly unaffordable rents – at times spending upwards of 70 per cent of her income on housing.
“The response from local women to help fund the building of a home for a local single mother and her kids has been nothing short of extraordinary,” says Habitat Victoria executive director Yolanda Meijer.
“One thing we heard over and over during the campaign is that women really identified with Amanda’s story. Several women shared that they, too, had been in a similar situation and helped by others. Being able to ‘pay-it-forward’ and help someone struggling through the same challenges was deeply gratifying for them,” Meijer says.
Campaign chair Sybil Verch of the Verch Group at Raymond James said Greater Victoria is a giving community and that local women step up when it counts.
“What I love about Habitat for Humanity’s program is that it gives parents working hard for a brighter future a hand up at a critical time in their lives,” Verch says.
Habitat Victoria is looking forward to thanking many of the donors in person at an appreciation event being held next week, inviting all of the 100 women to celebrate this remarkable accomplishment and to personally meet Amanda.
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