What we actually do

Four programs, one idea: nobody carries a month alone.

Most of what we do is unglamorous: an e-transfer on a Tuesday evening, a bag of groceries, a phone call that lasts an hour. Here is the whole of it, plainly.

Emergency loans

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.

A loan here is closer to what a sister would do than to what a bank would do. We agree on an amount, we agree on a date that matches when your income arrives, and that is the whole arrangement. Nothing is added, ever.

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 →

Grants and gifts

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. We look at each situation as it is and respond to it plainly.

You never have to ask for a gift rather than a loan. That is a judgement we make on our side, in conversation with you, and it changes nothing about how you are treated.

Considered case by case · nothing to repay · no follow-up of any kind

See what we've given →

Community and gatherings

The part that is not about money at all. Dinners and gatherings, Ramadan evenings together, rooms decorated for families who have just moved in, and bread carried every week to shelters and food banks across the city.

You are welcome at any of it whether or not you have ever asked us for anything. Bring your children. Most people do.

Open to every mother · roughly one gathering every six weeks · no need to have asked us for anything

Ask about the next one →

Longer-term support in development

Immediate relief is where we started, not where we mean to stop. We are building financial literacy sessions and employment pathways, so that fewer of the women we meet have reason to call a second time.

If your organisation runs training, placements or childcare and you can see where this joins up, we would like to hear from you.

Being built now · no date to announce yet

Work on this with us →

If you'd like to contribute

What you give doesn't get spent. It gets lent, and lent again.

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.

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How we handle the money

Thank you for reading this far. The women of Moms4Moms Calgary