We are women in Calgary helping mothers through a hard month. Sometimes that is a loan that costs nothing to borrow. Sometimes it is a gift, when paying it back isn't realistic. Either way, you get someone to talk to.
Everything you share stays private. We don't ask for proof, and we don't discuss your
situation with anyone else.
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Requesting assistance
No proof, no credit check, and no judgement at any point in it.
A short form, or a phone call if that is easier. No proof of anything, and no credit history.
Usually the same day, and it is a volunteer, not an office. We work out together what would actually help.
Most often within 24 hours, by e-transfer, gift card, or paid straight to the landlord or the shop.
Timed to the day your income arrives, and never a dollar more than you borrowed. If things change, the rest becomes a gift.
What we actually do
Most of it looks like an e-transfer on a Tuesday evening, or a phone call that runs an hour longer than it needed to.
Our oldest and busiest program. Rent, groceries, a car repair, a utility bill, moved quickly and without interest, so one hard month does not turn into a payday loan you carry for a year.
Up to $2,000 · usually within 24 hours · repaid on a date you pick · no interest, no fees, no credit check
How the loans work →Where paying it back is not realistic, we give instead of lending. Groceries, a bed, winter clothing, a transit pass, and on one occasion a car.
Considered case by case · nothing to repay · no follow-up of any kind
What we give, and when →The part that is not about money at all. Dinners, Ramadan evenings together, rooms decorated for families who have just arrived, and bread carried every week to shelters and food banks.
Open to every mother · roughly one gathering every six weeks · no need to have asked us for anything
What's coming up →Immediate relief is where we started, not where we mean to stop. Financial literacy sessions and routes into work are being built now.
Being built now · no date to announce yet
Where we're heading →
A gift rather than a loan
Most of what leaves the fund is a loan, and most of it comes back. Where paying it back was never going to be realistic, we give instead, and on one occasion what we gave was a car.
More from these years →If you'd like to contribute
We have been lending since 2018. What comes back goes straight out again to the next mom who calls, which is why a fund this small can do as much as it does. Nobody here draws a salary and we hold no office.
Thank you for reading this far. The women of Moms4Moms Calgary
We don't do this alone
If you work with a masjid, a shelter, a school or an agency and you're supporting a mother who needs assistance this week, write to us directly.