Habitat for Humanity Chatham-Kent is celebrating after receiving almost $360,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
The 19,000 sq ft. facility has made some recent renovations, which were made possible by a three-year $359,300 Grow Grant they had gotten in the spring.
"We've been working on the renovations so that when we announced the Trillium Grant, we could show off what we were able to do with the money so far," says Nancy McDowell, executive director for Habitat for Humanity Chatham-Kent.
The organization showed off their new donation drop-off canopy during a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday afternoon.
The ceremony took place at their Riverview Dr. location in Chatham, where MPP for Chatham-Kent-Essex Rick Nicholls gave a congratulatory speech to the staff and volunteers.
In addition, to the renovations done so far, the organization has hired new staff using the grant money. But McDowell says there's more to come.
"We have money to put into the marketing aspect of things so we're able to get there and start promoting what we do," says McDowell. "Next year we will be fortunate enough to buy a pick-up truck so that when we get those calls for small donations that maybe need to be out right away, one of our guys can go out and pick it up."
McDowell adds the money allows them to do more within Chatham-Kent which will eventually lead to helping more families into affordable housing.