HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Volunteers worked through a morning of pouring rain and light snowfall to make progress on a milestone build by Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity.
The Holland-based nonprofit is building its 150th home on Sunfield Drive in Holland Township. A group of around 15 volunteers raised the first floor walls Friday.
“It’s phenomenal for a small community like ours to be reaching 150 homes,” said Dave Rozman, development director at Lakeshore Habitat. “It really shows the support we received from volunteers showing up on ‘lovely’ days like today.”
The organization started building homes in Ottawa and Allegan counties in 1990. Houses are sold to families at affordable rates with payments that don’t exceed 30 percent of their monthly income.
In that time, 635 people have moved into those homes that took 375,000 volunteer hours to build, according to Lakeshore Habitat data.
Roger and Gladys Cruz and their two-year-old daughter are the future owners of the landmark home. They currently share a one-bedroom home with family members.
“As we grow our family and have other children – that’s what it means to us, a place where we can really now just call home,” said Roger Cruz.
The couple assisted the volunteers on the build and plans to be a part of Habitat moving forward.
“Whether it's speaking at events or helping out at other people's home builds, just as much as we can be a part to spread what this means for us, we definitely want to be able to do that,” Cruz said.
There’s nothing like watching a future homeowner see the building go up, said volunteer coordinator and site supervisor Mitch Carlson.
“It just really fills me up with great joy to know that there's a family that really wants to have this dream come true and being able to be a part of it,” Carlson said.
The home is expected to be finished in June.
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