Sault family looking forward to home ownership
A Sault Ste. Marie family is excited to move into its new home after being selected by Habitat For Humanity to take ownership of the agency's recently completed house on Wellington Street West.
The Aikens family is the 14th local family to move into a Habitat For Humanity home in the Sault. When Tanya Aikens received the call informing her of her successful application, she couldn't believe it.
"Oh my goodness, I was so surprised, so happy," said Aikens. "It was like, honestly, a Christmas miracle because it came in December. It was just out of this world."
Aikens said she's been renting all of her life and is looking forward to the safety and security of owner her own house.
"I am a support attendant, I work for March of Dimes Canada, I've been there 19 years this year," said Aikens, who will be moving in with her son Alexander and grandson Onyx. "I'm just raising my family, doing the best I can like everyone else and trying to get ahead."
Allyson Schmidt, who is on the Board of Directors for Habitat For Humanity Sault Ste. Marie, said the agency looks at a number of factors when selecting a family for home ownership.
"We look at families who are going to be a good fit for the home," said Schmidt. "So, we look at people having the proper number of bedrooms, that sort of thing. We have to look at their income. We look at all these factors when we're weighing because we do weight each application very carefully."
Meantime, Aikens said she can't wait to move in and have her first family dinner in her new home. She's also looking forward to making the property their own.
"Actually decorate and feel like it belongs to us," she said. "Give the kids a chance to express themselves that you couldn’t do in someone else's house. You couldn't design your rooms the way you want to knowing that some day you might have to move."
Habitat For Humanity Sault Ste. Marie is still accepting applications for a fully-accessible home on Blake Avenue. Those will be accepted until Jan. 25. Habitat expects to break ground on the property in the spring.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.