A home of their own; campaign aims to help family of Halifax youth worker suffering from kidney disease

Donors needed for father facing kidney failure Alvero Wiggins is well-known in Halifax for his community work at Hope Blooms, but now, the young father of four needs help for his family.

HALIFAX — Life has taken a difficult turn for a Halifax father of four, who is well known in his community for giving back to the youth, and now needs community support to help his young family.

Alvero Wiggins is known for helping others in his community of Uniacke Square in north end Halifax.

“In the young kids of this community I saw myself,” says Wiggins. “And it matters to have somebody in your life that cares, and somebody in your life that will be there for you.”

For 10 years, Wiggins has worked at several youth organizations including St. George’s YouthNet, Leave Out Violence, Hope Blooms and Love N.S.

Wiggins was diagnosed with kidney failure in June of 2018. In August 2019, he began daily dialysis.

“Basically it means that my kidneys don’t filter out the toxins from my body, and get rid of them. The treatment that I’m on is called peritoneal dialysis, it’s a form of home dialysis that I do everyday for 9.5 hours. Without that machine I would have two weeks to live,” says Wiggins.

Now, with Wiggins facing kidney failure, it’s his family that needs help from the community.

“My kids and my wife mean everything to me, they mean the whole world.” says Wiggins. “I have four children, three sons and one daughter, and my wife has a lot of extra responsibilities, in terms of taking care of the kids.”

Alvero having to go on medical leave has caused financial strain on the Wiggins family, and they are in need of a permanent home.

Family friend Sarah MacLaren started a GoFundMe page for the Wiggins family, with the aim of raising $150,000 to help them own a home.

“I decided to start a GoFundMe campaign for Alvero and Chelcie to help get their family into a home, because I know that security would make a huge change for that family and help change their kids lives for generations to come,” says MacLaren. “Alvero worked directly in his community with young people for 10 years of his life, and I like the idea of creating give-give situations, and what a thing it is to give back to someone who has given so much.”

“I don’t know how to say thank you,” says Wiggins. “I just want to scream and shout it to the heavens, have it reflect off the stars and have it bounce back to everybody. It’s incredible, we want to change the status of our family, rise ourselves up from living in poverty, and change the generational narrative of our story.”