Habitat-NCR Families of 2006

The Cardinal-Roach family

The Romero Family

The Said Family

Denis, the father was raised in Aylmer and his parents have lived in the same home for the past 25 years. Denis is a hard worker who is now working as auto parts manager at Canadian Tire in Aylmer.

Shawnie, the motherm is a full time homemaker who babysits part time to supplement the family's income. Fulltime babysitting is not possible as the Cardinal children have many different sicknesses and special needs which require many trips to CHEO and other specialists. Since her move to Aylmer she has been active in the community and church, she has even started a support group for families with special needs children.

Since the family was told that they would be receiving their habitat home they requested a cross boundary transfer so the 3 younger children could start school with the in that area and have been attending the Lord Aylmer School. Tiffinie is 13 and the oldest, she attends Symmes Jr High school.Owen is 12, Kissandra is 8 and the youngest is Nikolas who is 5.

Over the past 10 years the family has lived in many different homes that were rented, the family has often lived in cramped spaces and had to share rooms. This past fall the family had the opportunity to see the plans for there home. They are very excited to know that there home will be a 5 bedroom house, where everyone will have their own rooms, and a place that will be a space of their own.

As the build date moves closer the family is busy packing their belongings, and working at there 500 sweat equity hours, which are almost completed. They all know that this is just the beginning of their life as a Habitat for Humanity family and look forward to helping habitat help others to receive their homes.

To many others the construction of a house is just nails and wood. To the Cardinal family its far more, it is a start to their new life and stability. It is not a house being built it's a HOME!

For this family, the words said by its littlest member says it all "Our Forever House". Habitat is helping them achieve that.

Carlos Romero and his wife, Eva, have always dreamed of owning their own home some day.

Thanks to Habitat for Humanity, they will soon have the security that comes from homeownership. 

As refugees from war-torn El Salvador, personal security is especially important to the Romeros.  It’s a big relief for them to know they will soon own a home in a safe area.

Their new house will take them away from a neighborhood where vandalism and petty crime are common. “You can’t really leave things out in the back yard here,” says Jorge, the eldest son.

The Romeros began volunteering with Habitat before they came to Canada from El Salvador in 1986 with their son, Jorge. Theirs is a family tradition of service in the community. Their twins, Liette and Denise, 20, have volunteered on builds in the United States, and younger sister, Diana, 15, is eager to go as soon as she is old enough.

Back in El Salvador, Eva’s mother started an orphanage after retiring from teaching. Liette talks about how her life changed when, at the age of 15, she and her mother took a trip back to El Salvador. She saw how people lived there and realized how many opportunities she has here in Canada. Her grades improved and she became an enthusiastic participant in her church Youth Group. These days, she is working to pay her way through school in business administration or accounting.

Her sister, Denise, is living in Nunavut where she landed a job working with an autistic child after teaching herself Inuktitut. Older brother, Jorge, is also working so he can finish his degree at the University of Ottawa. Diana is in the Drama program at Canterbury High School and also studies at the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama. 

The Romeros have already finished their 500 hours of “sweat equity” required by Habitat from every family who receives a home, but that doesn’t mean they’ve finished with volunteering. For them, receiving a Habitat house is a continuation of their involvement with the program – though when they started they never thought they would some day have the honour of purchasing one of the homes.

 “We feel like royalty” is how Carlos Romero describes the way he and his family feel at the thought of their new Habitat home.

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