Tillsonburg Senior Donates Home to Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services

Tuesday, 7 December 2021 at 08:18

Lidia Tromp is moving into a nursing home and she has decided to donate her Tillsonburg home of 55 years to the Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services.

TILLSONBURG - A woman from Tillsonburg is donating her home to the Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services.

Lidia Tromp is moving into a nursing home and decided she wanted to donate her land back. Lidia was born and raised in Holland and has owned her home in Tillsonburg for 55 years. One of the first things she noticed when she first purchased the home was a set of iron bookends in the cupboard of a person slumped over on the back of a horse. She thought the bookends represented the suffering of Indigenous people from their loss of land, children, and other forms of oppression. After all of those years of living in her home, those bookends gave her the most selfless idea.

Speaking with Ontario Aborginial Housing Service's Wanda Chorney, Lidia says the bookends inspired her to donate her home.

"God put it in my head and my heart to give (the house) away. It was such a liberating thought. Good will come from it, I'm sure."

Lidia asked her lawyer, how to properly go about fulfilling her wish, which led them to Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services. They worked together to inspect the home and the executive team graciously accepted the donation.

Chorney says Lidia is one of the nicest people she has ever met.

"She has the kindest, gentlest, and most giving heart and soul of anyone I have ever met and likely will ever meet. I was honored to be the representative from OAHS to meet Lidia, I was incredibly moved."

Lidia wants other Canadians to know that they too can do what she has done.

"I hope things work out better now for the Native nation than what has been done so far."

Donating her home to the Indigenous people with the help of OAHS will ensure that an Indigenous family is housed safely and affordably to enhance their well-being and future.