Category: Building homes

Tuesday, November 19th was an exciting evening at Habitat as we celebrated our 2nd dedication of the year with the Gallardo family! Kimberly, DeAndre, and Kylani are beyond thrilled to be moving into their new home on a beautiful lot in Le Sueur, and we are so happy for them!

The event centered around a short program, during which Kimberly shared her journey that led to this moment, and was followed by a delicious meal for all to share. The love that her family has for each other and the joy of this opportunity was extremely evident, and we know that they will love their new home for years to come.

We owe a big thank you to Pastor Andy Davis of United Presbyterian Church in St. Peter for his words during the program, our Construction Manager Mike Kroenke and the many volunteers who helped build a lovely home, Trinity Lutheran of St. Peter and Dana Lamb for the quilts and welcome bags, and to everyone who graciously helped provide food. And lastly we appreciate everyone who was able to come that evening to celebrate with this wonderful family.

God’s blessings on your new home!

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On Monday, November 11th, we had the privilege of holding our first home dedication of the season! Congratulations to Karin Kopischke and her children – Tyler, Eli, and Sabrina – on their new home in St. Peter!

We had a full house for the event, which included a short program celebrating the new homeowners, and a delicious meal afterwards. Karin is never one to hide her excitement, and it was a joy to see how happy she and her family are to be moving in to their own home. She shared with the group how long she has been waiting for this day and how much she enjoyed tracking the progress – starting with the initial building of the house by local students at the St. Peter High School up through the sweat equity that she and her family and friends put in and all the hours contributed by Habitat staff and volunteers.

A huge thank you to everyone who was able to attend, for all the great food that many people contributed, to the blankets donated by Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Peter, to Pastor Joy of Trinity Lutheran for her help with the dedication, to Warren Peterson and the St. Peter HS students for their work constructing the house, and to Habitat’s Construction Manager Mike Kroenke and Terry and Carol Endresen for their countless hours dedicated to completing construction.

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South Central Minnesota’s Habitat for Humanity was recently blessed to have a traveling Care-A-Van crew with us for about 2 weeks helping us build our homes in St. Peter and Le Sueur.

If you are unfamiliar, the Care-A-Van program is an effort coordinated through Habitat for Humanity International that matches traveling volunteers with Habitat affiliates all across the country in need of volunteer support. These volunteers venture to various affiliates while living in an RV, enjoying the benefits of RV living and volunteering at the same time.

This year’s crew at our South Central MN affiliate included one solo volunteer (Steve, joining us from Colorado for the 2nd year in a row), and two couples (Mike & Janet from Indiana and Doug & Chris who are living full time in their RV). They were a very hard-working and entertaining crew, and helped us make great progress on our current builds. Four of our prospective homeowners even had the opportunity to provide meals for the group. Below are a few pictures from their time with us.

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We thank our five Care-A-Vanners for all their hard work, generosity, and joyful energy that they brought to our organization for these two weeks, and wish them luck on their continued journeys!

If you would be interested in learning more about Habitat for Humanity’s Care-A-Van program, please follow this link.

Our first home dedication of the season was held this past Thursday in Nicollet at the home of Chris and Heather Hoffmann. It was a heart-warming event for the family of six, their friends, their relatives, and the staff of Habitat. Blessings and prayers were shared as were four quilts that were made by two churches–Christ the King in Mankato and Madelia Presbyterian Church–which were given to each of the four children. The donor of the land also presented Chris and Heather with a yummy cookbook and her best wishes for the family. The family is extremely appreciative and thrilled to be moving into their own home! Join us in wishing them the very best.