TORONTO- Habitat for Humanity began building a new 3,300 square foot, seven bedroom, four bathroom custom home in May of this year, for a family of 14 in desperate need of a home.
Ene Underwood, CEO of Habitat for Humanity GTA, believes the Costa family is well deserving of a new home. Family’s that partner with Habitat for Humanity must be willing to volunteer 500 hours of so-called “sweat equity” towards the construction of their home or other projects.
“We selected them for the same reasons as we select every Habitat partner family,” Underwood said. “They were a family in need, they were a family with the means to be able to support a modest mortgage and they were willing to partner with us”
Tanya Costa, the mother of the partner family, along with her husband and 12 children have no problem investing their time in their new home.
“This is truly the house that love built,” Costa said. “We will never ever forget.”
Volunteers are the driving force behind Habitat for Humanity as almost 9,000 volunteers have worked a total of 35,500 shifts.Keith Perrin, a retiree, volunteers his time as a crew leader with Habitat for Humanity.
“Most people who come to work here as a volunteer have never been on a build site in their life,” Perrin said. “We have to teach them the skills that they need to do a task for the day, we want them to go away feeling they learned something.”
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