Habitat for Humanity breaks ground on new homes in Elkhart

ELKHART, Ind. -- Four families break ground on new homes with Habitat for Humanity of Elkhart County.

In a partnership with Lippert, the groundbreaking event marks the start of construction for the homes.

Each family puts in sweat-equity hours and completes Habitat's homeownership and financial literacy before taking the next step toward homeownership.

"It's been quite a bit of a rough road," says new homeowner, Quinton Thompson, standing next to his wife, Jessica. "And just having my wife, my kids by my side is one thing that just pushed me to do the things that I had to do to put in my hours to earn this house. And it's an amazing feeling."

Lippert started the 100,000-hour initiative about a decade ago.

"It's hard to believe our volunteer team members have volunteered more than a million hours throughout the past decade to nonprofits and community organizations all across the world," says Lippert Social Impact Strategist Michilah Grimes. 

Once families invest 200 hours of equity in their classes and they've saved up their down payment, the final 50 hours are spent working on their home; a process that takes between six and 15 months to complete. 

The full development was first celebrated with a community-wide groundbreaking in April of this year. 

The new homes will fill the development in the subdivision at 3115 Homer Avenue in Elkhart.