​This Valentine’s Day, Habitat La Crosse held its 47th home dedication. We wanted to spread the love that allowed us to build a forever home for this family with the community that made it possible. 

Last Thursday, Habitat La Crosse staff and volunteers joined community members to welcome See and Yee Thao into their Habitat home. The mother and son pair will soon be moving into to a rehabbed home that took a lot of work from volunteers and support from donors and sponsors.

​The Thaos and their family cooked a huge spread of food for dedication attendees to enjoy. There was sticky rice, fried rice, eggrolls, fruit and more. And guests couldn’t stay away!

​Our theme, “You Helped Build the Love,” was carried through to the celebratory cake, which was a hit particularly with the younger guests. 

​Habitat board president Alan Eber welcomed the family into their forever home. He reminded listeners that the gift of a safe, affordable, decent home is why Habitat does what it does. Eber emphasized how important sponsors, donors and volunteers are to this process. 

Executive Director Kahya Fox presented See Thao with her new keys, after explaining what an involved process this home rehabilitation was. We could not build more homes without our incredible and dedicated volunteers.
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Some of these Habitat La Crosse construction and ReStore volunteers joined us for the dedication. Al Pedrazoli, a regular construction volunteer, spoke to the hard work that went into making this house a home. He recalls being a little daunted during his first visit to the house. But the work of construction staff and volunteers like him made it all beautiful. 

Then came the official ribbon cutting. After 350 hours of volunteering in the ReStore and on the job site, See Thao cut the ribbon and became a Habitat homeowner.
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Home dedications help remind us all why Habitat works so hard to recruit volunteers, business partners and community donors to further our mission. The ability to present a safe, decent, affordable home to a partner family is a tangible way to see the deep and crucial impact of what we do. Congratulations to the Thao family, and welcome home! 

​On Tuesday, Feb. 5, Habitat for Humanity La Crosse Area celebrated our longest ReStore volunteer’s 6000th volunteer hour. Emmie Rosson has been volunteering with us since a week before our ReStore opened in 2006. 

Emmie is in the ReStore each week, chatting with other volunteers, customers and staff and picking up any extra work she sees that will improve the store. She does this because she loves the ReStore, Habitat La Crosse and the people with whom she works.
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At the pizza party celebrating all her hours of hard work, she couldn’t stress enough what a great place to volunteer the ReStore is. She has never heard a volunteer say a negative thing about the environment. Emmie referred to the “Why I Volunteer” posters hung up on the break room wall, emphasizing that people wouldn’t return day after day if they didn’t love it here. ​

Emmie’s passion for the ReStore doesn’t stop with her. She has been actively recruiting more volunteers since she started helping at Habitat La Crosse. From friends and family to ReStore customers at the register, Emmie has successfully brought in several awesome volunteers to help Habitat build more homes, communities and hope.
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At Habitat La Crosse, we are incredibly grateful for our volunteers like Emmie. We could not do anything we do for the community without them!