Habitat for Humanity Chatham-Kent has officially broken ground on a new house that will provide a home for a local mother and her two daughters.
The non-profit organization held a groundbreaking ceremony in Dresden on Wednesday, marking the beginning of the 10th build for Habitat for Humanity CK. The property, located on Main Street, was donated to Habitat by the Municipality of Chatham-Kent.
Chelsey Labelle and her daughters, Hillary, 12, and Maddy, 10, have been selected as Habitat’s partner family for the project and will move into their new three-bedroom, two-storey home once it has been completed.
“I’m obviously really looking forward to the fact that this is going to create generational stability. It’s going to feel like we’re home now. I can’t wait for Dresden to be that home,” said Labelle.
Labelle was noticeably emotional during the ceremony and expressed her gratitude to all of the local organizations and businesses that have helped her family achieve affordable homeownership.
“I’m just so thankful. I’m just so grateful we’ve worked this hard. We wouldn’t be here without everybody involved and the compassion that everybody has put in. [It] just touches my heart,” she said. One of the number one things I’m looking forward to is having a dining room table with four chairs that we can sit down at. That’s something that’s going to be really important to us. We [have] always had small tables living in apartments and things like that.”
The latest home build is expected to be completed sometime between September and October, at which point Labelle’s family will be provided the keys.
Habitat for Humanity helps working, lower-income families achieve their dream of owning a home. To qualify, a family must complete 500 hours of community service. They are also required to pay the mortgage on the home, which is geared to income.
All money donated to Habitat for Humanity and mortgage payments from partner families are invested into a revolving fund that is used to build affordable homes in the community.