“It was an amazing thing that we were given.”

“Seeing the satisfaction from the families when they received their furniture and the impact it made on their lives affected me in such a profound manner that I put my original plans aside to dedicate myself at the furniture bank.”

“We moved and everything seemed to go wrong at once. We ran out of money. We couldn’t afford to pay rent. My wife got sick. We didn’t have enough money to pay our bills… We were desperate.”

“When we moved into our apartment we had nothing. Now, we can sit on the couch together, eat meals at the kitchen table, and sleep in our beds.”

In recognition of World Refugee Day, read this moving story from one of the refugees we welcomed at Matthew House Ottawa last year.

Meet Arao, who has been a client, volunteer and staff of our furniture bank.