Meet a Partner Family

As volunteers and staff continue to work on the Ivanhoe project in Commerce City, meet a partner family who can't wait to move into their new Habitat home:

For Ali and Aliya, finding safety for their two young daughters is difficult, if not impossible for them at their current apartment complex.   Dangerous criminals and frequent assaults haunt the hallways and common areas throughout their Aurora apartment building.  In the 4 years that they’ve lived there, there have been 3 murders, including two people who were gunned down on the doorsteps to Ali and Aliya’s building.  And more recently, a woman was attacked and robbed in broad daylight in their parking lot. 

Ali and Aliya do everything they can to shield their daughters from the dangers that lurk outside their front door.  The girls spend much of their free time playing inside the small, 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom apartment since there’s no safe place to play outside.  In addition to the two daughters, Ali’s aunt Shabo (not pictured) also lives with them, making their apartment extremely cramped for the number of people in their family. 

Ali and Aliya can’t stop counting the ways that their lives are going to change when they move into their Habitat home this year.  “It’s such a great opportunity for our family,” Ali says.  He knows becoming a homeowner will impact their family immediately with more living space and a safe neighborhood, yet he’s also excited about the stability it will provide them for the future.  “We will finally feel settled.  Our dream is going to be true very soon – we are very happy.”

Ali and Aliya are both hard at work on their sweat equity hours and are enjoying learning new skills and seeing how the homes are constructed.  They are so thankful to be working with Habitat and looking forward to meeting their sponsor, Thrivent Financial and Holy Hammers, and the volunteers who will be helping them build their home.  “Thank you for giving our dreams a chance.  I have so many things to say to everyone helping.  This is such a great opportunity – thank you to everyone involved and for making a safe future for my family.”

To volunteer at the Ivanhoe project and help build Ali and Aliya's home, visit our website. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As a green builder, Habitat gets to celebrate all year. As we continue to build homes with our partner families and volunteers, Habitat has become one of the greenest builders in Colorado. For over a decade, Habitat homes have been tested by the ENERGY STAR program and have consistently tested at the 5-star level. The E-STAR program helps homeowners save money and helps the environment through the use of energy-efficient products and practices. As a result of our green building efforts, ENERGY STAR is recognizing Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver with a national award in excellence in affordable housing.

Learn how it's done. Click to watch the video from Ivanhoe to see how materials are used to make a home more energy efficient. For more information on our green building practices, visit our website.

Habitat Home Improvement Outlets

For Habitat staff and volunteers, there’s never a typical day at the Habitat Home Improvement Outlets. With new donations coming in, the landscape of the warehouses in Denver and Wheat Ridge change from a sea of cabinets to refrigerators to antique televisions. With these new items to spark creativity, the Outlets go way beyond home improvement stores.

The Outlets accept donations of new or used home improvement items and sell them back to the public at up to 80% off retail. The recycled materials reduce the amount of trash in local landfills and reduce waste from remodeling projects. Funds from the Outlets cover 96.8% of Habitat’s administrative costs and allow other donations and sponsorships to directly fund Habitat’s homeownership program. Alongside Habitat staff, volunteers at the Outlets can sign up and bring their own creativity and skills to the stores. Volunteers organize, paint, move furniture, test appliances and help with group projects. With the departure of one AmeriCorps group and the upcoming arrival of another, the Outlets are constantly changing. This time around, the Denver store got a facelift with some new paint.

Weekly specials and deals for friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter help unique items sell fast. Upcoming events like the Denver Home Show will feature materials from the Outlets and attendees can enter to win hundreds in gift cards to shop at either location.

“People will often come in looking for one thing and end up leaving with two others,” said Denver Outlet Manager Jerry Arnold. “It becomes almost like a treasure hunt and people get excited about what they might find.”

Visit the Outlets on Facebook and Twitter for deals, events, new donations and pictures. For more information on the Outlets, click here.

Ivanhoe Weekly Video Progress

With the help of our regular construction volunteers, Habitat has been able to build countless homes for hard-working, low-income families. Last week at Ivanhoe, some of our regular volunteers took the time to talk about how they became involved with Habitat and what they enjoy the most about spending their time out on a build site.

This week at site, our construction manager Ian explains how different nails are used for different materials and projects while building a house.

Show off what you learn! Become a regular construction volunteer or sign up with a group of friends to teach them your home-building skills. Click here for information about signing up to volunteer and click here to connect with us on Facebook.