Finding forever homes for Winnipeg's most vulnerable with help from Two Small Men

Moving from one home to another can be a stressful experience for anyone. But for the unhoused community of Winnipeg, moving to any home would be a marked improvement.

Since its inception two years ago, the Winnipeg-based grassroots organization Making It Home Your Way has sought to address that very issue. Founded by Patricia Hedden and Robin MacKenzie, the nonprofit has set up 23 people in a total of nine homes. While that number might not seem objectively huge, the difference it has made in the lives of these 23 people is massive.

“Our goal was to work with people who are transitioning from homelessness through referrals from participating agencies that we have developed relationships with,” says MacKenzie. “So they identify people that are well aligned with making it home, and our goal really was to try to impact homelessness one person, one family, one home at a time.”

And it's no band-aid solution, either. Making It Home works hand in hand with every individual referred to them in order to craft a space they'd want to stay in permanently. 

“What we discovered is that when people are involved in deciding what their space looks like and they can contribute to expressing what their preferences for color and style are, then they form an attachment to their space,” says MacKenzie.

Getting by with a little help from some friends

Entirely volunteer-run, Making It Home Your Way has relied heavily on the support of other local organizations when it comes to furnishing these new homes. 

“The furniture banks in Winnipeg on any given day are pretty depleted. We recognized we needed something brand new, so we went to Palliser Furniture, and their president, Peter Tielmann, was the first partner that agreed to commit to supporting Making It Home. And then we had IKEA in Winnipeg supporting with design, volunteers and furnishings. Dufresne, through their Dream Big donation program, provides our beds, and we had a grant from the Mennonite Central Committee. So we had these items that were generously donated by these amazing local partners in the city, but we needed to be able to move them.”

Enter Two Small Men with Big Hearts. With over 40 years of experience, the company was certainly no stranger to difficult moves or to the concept of giving back to a community. Since the inception of Making It Home, Two Small Men has offered its services, crews and trucks for no charge to assist in moving all of the people the organization has worked with. 

“Two small men stepped up to fill that role for us,” says MacKenzie. “They truly have been so accommodating. Every home we take on is unique, and there are challenges each and every time. But to a person, Two Small Men Moving has been so compassionate. And when we run into a problem, for example, say we haven't measured the width of the door to the apartment that we're moving into and an item has to be returned to the Palliser and a new piece selected, Two Small Men always steps up and makes it happen to solve the problem. They want to make sure that our participant is in their finished home by the end of the day. So it's incredible the way that it has come together.”

Moving on up

As MacKenzie explains it, the support they've received from Two Small Men and the other above-mentioned organizations is really a Winnipeg solution to a Winnipeg problem. It may be easy to be dismissive or judgemental of the unhoused based on previously-held beliefs and notions, but behind every person without a home is a different story of how they got there.

“We have worked with five different referring agencies. What we've discovered is that people come to housing insecurity for lots of different reasons. One common denominator is that there's always trauma involved in some way. We see far too many women who have left domestic violence. We've dealt with people who are working on recovering from addictions.”

And when kids are involved, everyone is willing to make that extra effort.

“There was a grandmother who had custody of her four grandchildren and created a home for them with Making it Home. When we asked this grandmother 'What does home look like for you? What do you care about? What colors do you like,’ she gave us handwritten notes from each of her grandchildren describing what they wanted their bedrooms to look like. So her only concern was for her grandchildren to be happy in this home. We were able to make each of their bedrooms look the way that home looked like for them and the look on their faces, especially the youngest, was amazing.”

It's an emotional journey for all involved and when it works out, it's not just the new home recipients who are elated. 

“I cry every single time,” says MacKenzie. “And I don't cry because I feel we're doing such a great job, I cry because I see these amazing people, who have every reason to be miserable, step up and keep going and do what they have to do for themselves and for their families.

“And the caseworkers are unbelievable. They care so much about the people that they're helping. So, I'm crying because I'm seeing people come into a home that I know will feel good. And we see the caseworkers crying because they're just so relieved that the people they care about have more than what they could have cobbled together if they tried to transition them without the help of all of our partners.”

If you'd like to make a donation or want more information on Making It Home Your Way, visit @makingithomeyourwayinc on Instagram.

To find out more about Two Small Men with Big Hearts Moving and the many organizations they have given back to over the years, click here.