Raquel has always been good at seeing the potential in people and things.

As a preschool teacher who’s just one year away from having her graduate degree in education, she helps children in our community to become the best version of themselves.

As a mother, she can see the future she wants to create for her 5-year-old daughter. Part of that plan includes becoming a homebuyer. But with student loans to pay off and a young child to support while living on a teacher’s salary, she wasn’t sure how to make that happen.

Then Raquel contacted Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis to learn more about our homebuyer program – and we immediately saw the potential in her.

Raquel decided to pursue her dream of homeownership with Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis. She was drawn to a house that is more than a century old in South City that we were just getting ready to rehab. When we took her to view the property, she opened the blue front door, and fell in love with the potential she saw in front of her. She looked beyond decades of neglect to see the inherent beauty of the original hand carved pocket doors in the living room and the elegant banister leading to the second floor. She was thrilled to hear that the plan for the house was to maintain as much of the original architecture as possible. She began to see a future where her daughter will grow up secure and safe in an historic home with so many stories to tell… and so many stories yet to be written.

This summer, Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis is collaborating with local title companies, mortgage brokers, and banking partners to issue the Bring Them Home Challenge! From July 1st through August 31st, this partnership of local business leaders will match your contribution dollar for dollar – up to $75,000! Together we can raise up to a total of $150,000 to help Raquel and other families realize their dream of owing an affordable home and help them  reach their full potential.