'It was a shock': Business pays Moncton not-for-profit's mortgage

It’s been an exciting couple of weeks for Charlie Burrell.

The founder of Moncton’s Humanity Project got married last Saturday and a week before he received an incredibly generous donation.

A business owner who Burrell has worked with in the past called him and asked what he needed for the upcoming fall and winter.

Burrell said hey could always use more food and warm clothing to help the city’s homeless and working poor.

He was then asked how much he had left on the mortgage for his downtown location on St. George Street that provides hot meals, snacks and clothing.

“They basically asked me the amount. I went and found out the exact amount and they said, ‘We’re going to pay it off for you,’” Burrell said on Friday.

The amount still owing was a little more than $120,000, but that’s now been paid for.

The Humanity Project is a not-for-profit organization run by a dedicated group of volunteers.

The person who made the donation will not get a tax receipt from them, it was done purely out of the good of their heart, Burrell said.

The business has helped them out before, but never anything like this.

“It was a shock. I’m not going to lie, I cried a little and I’m still kind of in disbelief about it,” said Burrell. “The only thing they asked for in return was that we continue to take care of our city’s children, seniors, homeless and working poor families and to keep moving ahead so that we can build a better community for everybody.”

Burrell spread the news on Facebook this week and his post has been seen by more than 200,000 people.

It also received thousands of comments, many of them read by Burrell.

People are well aware these are hard times for a lot of people in downtown Moncton with drug use and overdoses, homelessness and mental health issues, he said.

The post “restored their faith in humanity,” Burrell said, because there are still good people out there despite all the negative things going on.

Burrell’s family and staff of volunteers were just as blown away as him.

“Pretty sure a couple of them had to change their pants. And a lot of them cried too because it’s overwhelming,” he said.

The Humanity Project in Moncton is pictured. (Source: Derek Haggett/CTV News Atlantic)

Last winter, Burrell started taking people off the streets of downtown Moncton to bring them to a tiny home community on a farm near Salisbury where people are getting a second chance at life.

Burrell has received municipal, provincial and private funding in order to build more than 20 bunkhouses to provide addiction and mental health services on site.

He told a story about one man who was overdosing on the streets who he thought wasn’t going to make it.

The man was revived using NARCAN and agreed to come the Burrell’s farm where he made the goal of getting clean and having a relationship with his child again.

“And after nine months of him being on the farm and us working with child protection services and the courts and everything, he now has his son four days a week,” said Burrell. “He’s working on a plan so when he leaves the farm, he’ll have his son full time. There’s no better feeling to me than that.”

There are currently 84 people on a wait list to go to the farm.

As for who made the mortgage donation, Burrell is keeping that a secret to respect their privacy and to honour their generous act.

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