Many homes in the community are health hazards. Children sleep crowded together on dirt floors, exposed to rain, mud and vermin; they defecate into plastic bags and bathe in old buckets outside. In response to the many pleas, mostly from single mothers, for funds to make basic repairs to homes we implemented our Community Bank Program.
Several community meetings were held to discuss how best to use limited funds so as to repair the maximum number of homes possible and benefit the whole community. The goal was to design a process that would be inclusive, fair and unifying. From these meeting emerged the Street Angels Community Bank, an innovative self-help project rooted in the notion of reciprocity.
Families qualifying for repairs are selected by lottery and divided into teams of three. Each lottery winner is allocated an approximately C$750 repair grant and reciprocate their luck by providing 300 hours each of volunteer support services to the most vulnerable members of the community (those coping with illness, the physically challenged, the elderly, the homeless, etc.) In exchange for this, they are provided with vouchers that are redeemed for construction materials or used to hire skilled labour if there is no one in the family capable of doing the repairs.
A meeting is held every two weeks to tally the volunteer hours, discuss progress and identify any challenges. A Community Bank Committee, comprised of individuals with construction experience and past participants, provides support to participants by helping them develop realistic building plans and deal with any issues that may arise.
Thanks to generous support from Teck Cominco Limited, 38 families have benefited from this program to date.
Many homes in the community are health hazards. Children sleep crowded together on dirt floors, exposed to rain, mud and vermin; they defecate into plastic bags and bathe in old buckets outside. In response to the many pleas, mostly from single mothers, for funds to make basic repairs to homes we implemented our Community Bank Program.
