Just made it

Rutland Williams and his family will be getting a home this year after all.

A month ago, the prognosis wasn’t so good, with Habitat for Humanity Thunder Bay well behind on its $100,000 raffle ticket sales and hoping to break even.

A last-minute rush saw all 6,000 outstanding tickets snapped up. Combined with a $20,000 donation from RBC announced on Thursday, and it won’t be long before the foundation is poured and the walls start going up on the Williams’s Johnson Street home.

Habitat for Humanity CEO Diane Mitchell couldn’t be happier, her tears of sorrow turned to tears of joy at the news.

“It is absolutely unbelievable. We can only say thank you. So many thank-yous need to be said, from the community that purchased the tickets to the community partners who sold tickets for us and helped promote it,” Mitchell said.

“We never in our wildest dreams expected that we would be able to purchase land and build a house this year. And we’re going to be able to accomplish both due to the fact that we have this wonderful $20,000 gift from RBC today.”

The two-storey, two-bedroom house is the culmination of a lifelong dream for the Williams family, Mitchell said after helping build a pile of 20 bricks at the lot, symbolic of the RBC donation.

“They are excited to be getting the house and moving in before Christmas,” Mitchell said.
RBC’s Murray Walberg, who will join his colleagues volunteering on the build, said the donation is all about giving back to those around them.

“We really share the vision about building communities. And Habitat’s vision is around affordable, decent housing for everyone. We really register with that and it’s really part of our business and values about community building,” Walberg said.

While the raffle was ultimately a success for Habitat in 2011, Mitchell stressed once again it will not be staged again because of waning interest.

The fundraiser will be replaced, she promised, though could not say how.

“We’ve taken this week just to try to wrap up the raffle and try to get some numbers done,” she said. “We will be coming up with a plan to replace the raffle and hopefully we’ll have that in the next couple of months.”

It costs the organization, which provides low-interest, affordable mortgages to qualified, low-income candidates, about $75,000 to build each home.

At present Habitat for Humanity Thunder Bay has about 10 families on its waiting list.