The Mustard Seed has retired the mortgage on one of our downtown apartment buildings thanks to an incredibly generous donation. It means the 20 residents in the Beltline building get a break on rent and The Mustard Seed can redirect resources to other much-needed services.
The anonymous donor helped both The Mustard Seed and the Calgary Homeless Foundation retire the mortgages on two affordable housing units, and in turn those savings are being passed on to residents.
Bruce, a resident at The Mustard Seed’s Beltline apartment, says his rent is going down by 25 per cent, “I don’t know if anyone can say thank you enough. All I can say is thank you over and over again.”
The Mustard Seed residents and staff celebrated the mortgage retirement with a community barbecue at Acadia Place, which is operated by the Calgary Homeless Foundation, and is now also mortgage-free.
Stephen Wile, CEO of The Mustard Seed says, “This is exactly the kind of step forward that helps people experiencing poverty make sustainable change in their lives. We are so grateful to this anonymous donor and others who are helping transform lives and demonstrating compassion to all Calgarians.”
The donor who gave this gift has chosen to remain anonymous; however participants in our Resident Art Program at the apartment collaborated on a painting as a token of their appreciation. The painting, titled “Building Community at The Mustard Seed” will be delivered to the donor by the Calgary Foundation, which helped connect the donor to the two homeless serving agencies.
The painting depicts a group of diverse individuals standing side-by-side joining hands – in essence they are building a community.
The Mustard Seed has three other affordable housing complexes in the city and we are able to offer housing to 286 people in total.
Through RESOLVE we are working on creating more affordable housing in Calgary.
Donors make a powerful impact on all of us – thank you.
