Joyful Saturday Dedication In Robbinsdale

"Thank you for the opportunity to have a house and a better life for our children." - Abrahim, Homebuyer

On a beautiful, breezy Saturday morning friends, supporters, volunteers and staff came to tour Abrahim & Rahma's new home. As the sun filtered through the house the family celebrated completing their sweat equity work, homeownership classes and the completion of construction on their home. Volunteers stood out on the grass remembering the early stages of the house and excitedly pointing out the bits their own hands had contributed to. 

"I feel so lucky to participate in this joyous occasion for your family," shared Susie DeShon, a volunteer member of the Dedications Committee. "At dedications we get to see the house become a home."

Rahma and Abrahim reflected on working with volunteers to build their home, "I have never met people with such care in my life. Thank you for this experience, we will hold it close."

Tony Beckstrom, Twin Cities Habitat Site Supervisor of the build, knows it takes a team to do this work. "Anyone that has been out to site knows this tends to be volunteer rich and supervisor light work. I was fortunate to have a few people onsite to take on some responsibility. One of those people was Roger. Roger took the home almost all the way from A to Z. He has incredible energy and took the lead with a group of volunteers each day. Early in the build all of our tools were swiped so for a week or two Roger's tools built the house." 

Kate Loe, Senior Director of Resource Development, spoke about the incredible volunteer support Twin Cities Habitat has on builds. "In one year we have 17,000 individual volunteers completing more than 27,000 hours of work. I get asked all the time (from folks interested in volunteering) 'so do I just hand the hammer to the actual construction team?' And I say 'No, you are the construction team!'" 

Each build comes with a unique set of challenges and this one had a major one: construction. "There were no roads when we started to build here. No sewers. Everything was ripped up with trucks and bulldozers everywhere. We had to sneak our drop-offs around machinery and back down the alley. This home has special meaning to me because I really don't know how we did it. On the plus side we blended right in with their noise and dust!" said Tony.

Robbinsdale Mayor Regan Murphy spoke about the close community the family will be joining. "There are three things we strive for in Robbinsdale: hard work, fun and respect for each other. We need all of our empty lots to be single-family homes here. That investment is critical to keep our community vibrant. 

Todd Hall, Twin Cities Habitat Board Member and representative of sponsoring organization Cargill, shared that the courage it takes to build your own home comes from the desire to provide your family with more. "This is a remarkable home to raise your daughters in. The work you've done through sweat equity, homeownership classes and building creates a pride in your home that never ends." 

Thank you Cargill and all the volunteers that put their hands on this home, building a future for Rahma, Abrahim and their children. 

To view more pictures from this dedication, click here.