By Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Burlington Local-News.ca
On April 29, Active Results Collaborative (ARC) held a Sing for a Cause fundraiser for the Halton-Mississauga-Dufferin branch of Habitat for Humanity (Habitat HMD).
ARC is a local marketing agency that organizes events for charities and non-profits on the side, running both networking and Sing for a Cause events, to “connect with the community” and “raise awareness and funding,” according to Robin Read, ARC’s director of sales and marketing.
Jackie Isada, Habitat HMD’s vice president of strategic partnerships and community relations, said that the event is a way of letting people know that they can make a difference without directly working with Habitat HMD.
“Back in the day when Habitat first started, it was really about the community coming together and helping build houses,” Isada said. “And so the traditional way was an old-fashioned barn raising. Everybody comes with their hammer and their nails, and we build, and we still sort of operate that way today, but we don’t necessarily have the traditional hammer and nails. There’s sort of the virtual, imaginary kind of nails and hammer that really help us provide affordable housing for local families.”
Read echoed Isada’s comments about this unique way of raising money.
“Everybody just says how much fun they have,” Read said. “It’s just a different way of fundraising. It’s putting the fun into fundraising.”
ARC has its own singers who travel with the Sing for a Cause fundraisers to entertain event-goers.
Attendees could donate to either sing themselves or request one of the ARC singers to sing a song of their choice.
Isada spoke about the growing need for affordable housing and why Habitat’s mission is more important than ever.
“What we have seen, unfortunately, given the economic challenges out there right now and what’s really been happening over the last ten years in the affordable housing sector is [that] the gap has widened more and more for people between the cost of building, the cost of land, the fees, development and costs that go into it,” Isada said.
Isada also spoke about some of the misconceptions that people may have about Habitat for Humanity.
“I think the biggest myth we have at Habitat about us is that people think we give away our housing,” Isada said. “We don’t. Our motto is to give families a hand up, not a handout. So they actually do take a mortgage with us, but it is a very low-rate mortgage to help them get started. We also require them to have some volunteer hours.”
“People think we just put people in houses, and give them shelter,” Isada continued. “But what we find is that Habitat homes create strength, stability, and independence for families. They have a stable environment for children, they’ve reduced commute times, they provide more safety and security for families, and a chance to build some generational wealth. So there are a lot of factors that really help make a bigger impact than people think.”
Isada said that due to the economic uncertainty linked to U.S. tariffs, she expects the demand will continue to rise.
ARC’s goal was to raise $1500 from the event, of which they have raised $670 so far; the fundraising period ends on May 6. ARC has raised over $10,000 for local charities so far.
Isada spoke about what she hoped to achieve from the event.
“We just want to remind people that housing is still a big issue here in Ontario and across the country, especially affordable housing,” Isada said. “And you can be helping your neighbour into an affordable, decent, safe home, and it really doesn’t cost you that much. It could be your time, it could be a financial donation, or it could be just helping us to advocate towards government for more funding. Those are ways that people can help. But the demand is great.”
Click here to tune in to some of the karaoke singing from the event; to learn more about Habitat HMD, visit https://habitathmd.ca/.
To donate as part of the Sing for a Cause event, visit https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/sing-for-a-cause-habitat-for-humanity-hmd/.
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