A low-income housing facility for seniors in Morden is starting to get some overdue improvements with a contribution from a local business.
Five suites in Legion House 1 are getting entirely new kitchen cupboards donated by Decor Cabinets.
“Getting a little bit of support from the community is extremely wonderful,” said Marina Brown, property manager for both Legion House 1 and Legion House 2.
“I’m very excited to be getting new cabinets,” resident Alana Kelly said last week as she eagerly awaited their installation over the next few days. “I have three different laminate grains … I had to put mactac on my counters to cover up some damage … I made it look okay, but that’s wearing out now.
“The shelves look like they’ve had 50 pound weights on them, and they’re just bowed,” Kelly said as she showed how the shelves in the cabinets were sagging. “They served well, but it’s time for a new one.”
“Maybe the rest of these can get changed,” noted Jeff Enns, director of sales for Decor Cabinets, noting that plumbers and electricians were stepping up to help out and suggesting perhaps other companies could get involved as well.
“I think it’s just an opportunity. I look at this, and I look at the fine folks that live in our community, live in Legion House 1,” he said. “As just a member of this community, as a member who works with Decor and cares about the community … I think it’s an opportunity to maybe show our surrounding area how it is here and maybe there’s more that we can do.
“It’s great to hear Alana so excited. This is really about can we change their lives, and hopefully it’s an opportunity for more people just to become aware because there’s no question about the goodness of the people in the Pembina Valley.”
Brown agreed that the cabinets were outdated and long overdue for replacement.
“They’ve lived their time. They’re dark; the kitchens are very dark in a lot of the suites. This gives us an opportunity to lighten them up, to make them easier for our seniors to use.
“It’s just an exciting thing to happen to get improvements done in this building. We’ve done a lot of things in our last four years. We just want to keep going. We want to improve their lives and make it for them a decent place to live with dignity and respect.”
Brown noted their biggest challenge in making improvements has been around affordability. She said their focus is on Legion House 1, as Legion House 2 belongs to Manitoba Housing and so repairs and upgrades fall under the responsibility of that provincial agency.
“We really are kind of strapped with what we can do in that building, but this building owns itself so we can, as long as we can afford it, we can do whatever upgrades, whatever things we need to do,” she explained.
“That’s part of the problem. We don’t have the funds. It is a low income building. Their rent is below $600 a month, so it’s low income, and $600 a month doesn’t go very far.”
Come last Friday when Kelly had her bright new kitchen in place, she was even more ecstatic.
“I just about fell over, I was so happy and they looked so beautiful … the hard part was fitting everything back in, and I realized how much I had,” she noted.
“I’ve got a lazy Susan and a pull out spice rack … it’s just wonderful.”
“It’s just a miracle. I never thought I would be this lucky.”
“I think it’s just a blessing that Decor came forward,” added Brown.
If you’d like to make a donation to Legion House 1 improvements, call 204-823-4588.
