Meet Sam

For Samantha “Sam” Troughton helping and caring for others is second nature, stemming from the strength and determination that was inspired by her own mother and father. Along with her coffee obsession and her love of hiking, Troughton is extremely passionate about volunteer & humanitarian work, having done mission work in Haiti before volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. She even moved to Haiti for 6 months, diving into the community and immersing herself in their cultures. There, Troughton worked with 7 different pastors in an effort to help the churches increase their exposure to grow and expand within their villages. In expressing her appreciation for this cause, Troughton stated: “It was an amazing experience!… It’s an achievement that I am very proud of and it is something I hope to continue in the future”. But her aspirations for making a positive change don’t stop there as Troughton is currently studying Social Work at Sheridan College in hopes of becoming a social worker to interact with and help troubled youth.

This devotion and drive to reach her goal of helping those who need it is what led her to Habitat. While searching for a co-op placement to fulfill her graduation requirements, Troughton’s father recommended she do her placement at Habitat:“He’s done builds with Habitat in the past and told me that it was a great place to go and had great people to work with”. Troughton volunteered with Habitat from September 2016 to late April 2017 and worked in the Family Services department. Along with the rest of the Family Services team, Troughton mainly worked with the Habitat families on applications. As well, she helped move the families through the process of getting them into a home after their application was accepted.

In the months that Troughton volunteered with Habitat, she spoke of all that she learned from her work, from professional tips to personal lessons like how to be more social and empathetic, especially when working directly with the families. Through experiencing these families’ journeys, Troughton’s hope is that the awareness for what Habitat does will increase and that the existing stigmas are finally silenced. She expressed that it was the families she worked with that motivated her to stay involved, saying they all deserve the opportunity to have a stable life: “The hope that is given to them as this process starts. Seeing them see their house for the first time, [watching] them move in and experience it all for the first time. That makes everything worth it.”