“It’s a dream come true.”
Jumboy Dacullo, his wife Jennifer, and their two sons Jum, 11, and Aidelle, 6, are sitting in the living room of their new home.
The Dacullo’s were recently handed the keys to Habitat for Humanity’s first Cold Lake single-family detached residence.
Now proud homeowners, there was a time when this family never thought they would own a house.
“It was never in our thoughts that we would buy a house here. We just figured we would rent,” Jumboy explained, adding the cost of purchasing a house was always a factor.
“We never expected to own a house like this,” Jennifer added.
Jumboy moved to the area under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in 2013.
“Luckily, I got the opportunity to become a permanent resident (of Canada). That meant that I could bring my family here,” he said.
During the two years he was working at Canadian Tire in Cold Lake, Jumboy’s family remained in the Philippines. Once he received his permanent residency in 2015, he made a trip back to his home country to pick them up and bring them to Canada.
It was that same year that Jumboy learned of the Habitat for Humanity program through a friend living at the organization’s condo facility, Spirit Arms.
“I researched it, and found their number. I set up an appointment and they told me to submit some things. When I met the director for the Habitat for Humanity, Armand Mercier, he convinced me to move into Spirit Arms,” he explained.
But that’s not where their story ends. Unfortunately for the family, they weren’t able to move into the condos because of Aidelle and Jum’s asthma.
According to Jumboy, Spirit Arms is a pet-friendly building, which would have caused health concerns for the two boys.
Once Habitat for Humanity caught wind of their situation, they informed the Dacullo’s they were in the process of building a single-family detached home.
Once again, they filed their application, and three months later, were told they would be moving in.
“We’re just so lucky to be chosen,” expressed Jumboy.
Mercier had made a special visit to the Dacullo’s home in Cold Lake north to break the news. It wasn’t until about an hour into their conversation that the director informed the family their application was successful.
“They asked us questions and then after about an hour of interview, we asked what our status was for our application. Armand said, ‘congratulations, you get the house.’ We were crying, because we were just so happy,” Jennifer said.
Jumboy added, “We just can’t believe it.”
It took nearly two years and dozens of volunteers to get the job done.
For the Dacullo’s they can’t thank them enough.
“The good thing about this house, is it’s a house made with love,” said Jennifer.
The house is walking distance from the boys’ school, Holy Cross.
But what they enjoy even more than the quick route is the space to play.
“We can’t explain it. We came from a very small house in the north, when we came here, I just though ‘wow, this is a big one,’” noted Jumboy.
The family is currently going through the process of becoming Canadian citizens, after being notified by the federal government they were qualified to apply in 2017.
“We’re actually looking forward to that too,” Jumboy said. “It (the house) means a lot to us. This is really a dream come true, having and owning a house here.”
