Our story
Our story: the garage October 2021
What started as one Mitzvah, good deed, quickly became an interfaith humanitarian project. First with an Arabic speaking Egyptian woman, Omnia (my saving grace with Syrian families who did not speak English). Together we found furniture, bedding, kitchen supplies, towels and everything else someone would need to make their house a home. And then it began to build into something much bigger than we could have imagined. (Above picture is just a glimpse into one part of my garage.)
From the launch of a Facebook page requesting items we needed from our very supportive community, to wonderful volunteers and movers extraordinaire, to outgrowing the storage our garages (and friends’ garages!), to support from Access Storage and then a donated 10,400 square foot warehouse space Brigil Construction! The rate of growth and support has been amazing!
Our story: Our Warehouse
House To Home warehouse has become a hub for 30+ volunteers both on site and behind the scenes working together, organizing estate pickups, sorting and organizing boxes and bags of donated items, building bundles, building kitchenware boxes, making sheet sets… Together with a team of dedicated staff (all newcomers from Afghanistan) and the fabulous donations we receive, we have furnished the homes of almost 250 families (January 2022 - October 2022).
This growth shows the great demand for the services. And while we have been powered by volunteers, and receive donated items from the community, we still can’t meet the needs of the refugee communities we serve. Most of our families get housing with only the clothes on their backs. Donations to “ House to Home” are used to help furnish their houses and turn them into homes.
With all this demand, we recognize we need a revenue stream to purchase items we haven’t received through donations, such as mattresses, pillows, tool kits, irons and vacuums and to pay for operational expenses like the moving truck, gas, staff and insurance, so we can help make sure that refugees feel as safe, comfortable and at home in Canada as quickly as possible.
Picture: One of the best parts about being in a grocery store is having the conveyors at the front. Each conveyor is tagged with a family where all of their household items are placed to be organize for their move.
