Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis is preparing for another fantastic Home 4 The Holidays Build in partnership with KMOV and 12 amazing community partners! This year, we decided to not just build one home in 12 days, but TWO homes for two very deserving families! You may think it’s crazy, but with the help with our tremendous partners, we know it’ll be a breeze!
This year’s Home 4 The Holidays build will take place in historic Carondelet, a neighborhood already home to several Habitat Saint Louis homebuyers. We’re excited to partner with two new homebuyers and to share their homeownership journey with you and with the help from the crew at KMOV!
Meet Homebuyer Shawnte
Shawnte is a single mother of four amazing children, Sharde, Rashod, Jaylen and Hailey, who currently works for Clean Uniform Company and at Panera Bread part-time. Shawnte’s family, like most, has had their share of ups and downs, but still manage to put on smiling faces with open hearts. A few years ago, Shawnte’s oldest son was a victim of gun violence and was extremely lucky to pull through. Over time, his body healed and is now back in sync thanks to his never wavering faith and trust of God’s grace.
Shawnte has always wanted to become a homeowner but due to life’s hardships, her priorities had to shift. But now, that’s all about to change as she has agreed to partner with Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis! She will be out on the build site with Habitat Saint Louis construction crew and leaders, and of course, our hard-working volunteers.
Shawnte describes her family as a close-knit family that has always stuck together. She said, “The idea of us building a home as a team, blows my mind.” She received a phone call from Habitat Saint Louis while she was grocery shopping and couldn’t wait to share the news with her kids.
“When I shared the news with my kids, we all celebrated with tears in our eyes,” said Shawnte.
We’re extremely honored and excited to embark on this journey of safe, affordable homeownership with Shawnte and her family. We also know this would not be possible without our committed construction staff, our dedicated volunteers and of course, our donors and community partners.
Meet Homebuyer Jacobi
Jacobi has been a single mother for over five years and just recently had her second child, Mia, in addition to her 5-year-old daughter, Leyah. Jacobi has told us that being a mother to two girls is hard work, but her daughters are so much fun to be around with, it’s hard not to fall in love with them. With all their fun activities Jacobi and her daughters love to do, such as move or game nights, finger painting or dancing, Jacobi says that having their own home will make these heart-felt moments even better.
“Having a stable home has always been a priority. I knew that it would one day happen for us, but I could not imagine when or how,” said Jacobi. “With the help of Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis, my kids and I will soon have a brand new home of our own. The idea of building my own home is proof that when you put your heart into your goals… you will succeed.”
We can tell that Jacobi and Shawnte are eager to get their hard hats on and to start building their forever homes. We hope you’ll join our 12-day journey of building two homes in partnership with these incredibly strong women. KMOV News Channel 4 will be checking in and tracking our progress throughout the next two weeks. Click here to learn more.
We also want to give a HUGE thanks to 12 amazing community partners helping make Shawnte and Jacobi’s dreams of homeownership a reality. Much thanks to Brown & Crouppen, Butler Supply, Carpenters Union, Clayco, Imos, TDK Technologies LLC, Jewels on Hampton, Koch Air, Mastercard, Regions Bank, Tuxedo Distributors LLC, USA Mortgage, Vatterot Educational Centers, USA Mortgage for your support this year.
For questions about our homeownership program, please visit habitatstl.org/homeownership or call 314-371-0400.
