Thao Family Dedication

​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!

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

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​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. 

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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. 

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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!