Minnesota North College Partners with North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity to Build Home in Virginia

North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity will be hosting a home dedication to celebrate the completion of Sheryl Lamppa’s home in Virginia.  This home was built in partnership with the Minnesota North College – Mesabi Range Eveleth’s Carpentry Program with leadership from instructor Leo Lukas.  Students built the foundation of the home, completed the framing, roofing and exterior finishes and had the interior nearly complete during their school year.  North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity is grateful for this great partnership with the college which increases its capacity to serve families in need of an affordable home.

Sheryl has been a great partner in this journey toward homeownership.  She attended homeownership classes and worked on her home, fulfilling sweat equity requirements, along with her daughter Briana.  They worked together with community volunteers, after the College’s school ended, to complete the interior finishes of the home, along with painting both the interior and exterior.  They are both excited to begin this next chapter in their lives.  “Home to me,” said Sheryl, “is more than four walls and a roof overhead, it is a solid foundation for my daughter and me. We look forward to decorating how we want, enjoying our yard.  I am grateful that our affordable mortgage payment will not go up and down like our rent does.”

“This project is a great example of community collaboration to address the affordable housing needs of our neighbors.  The Lamppa family and friends put in great amounts of sweat equity into their home construction project which was matched by the excellent effort of college students as they experienced hands on learning.  Community volunteers and organizations also pitched in to complete the final stages of the home.  Bringing people together to build homes, communities and hope is easy when you work with a caring community if eager to lend a hand up to help families build and affordably buy an affordable home,” said Nathan Thompson, North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity’s executive director.

The home received funding support from the Essentia Foundation, Cleveland Cliffs, the Otto Bremmer Foundation, and our local area businesses and individuals.  Many community volunteers, friends of the Lamppa family, volunteered to help complete the project.  Thank you all for your support!

This event will take place on Wednesday, August 24^th, 2022, at 5:00pm at 106 3^rd St N, Virginia, MN 55792.

Habitat’s History in North St. Louis County

NSLCHFH has been working to build affordable homes in the community since 1995.  Working to build simple, decent, and affordable homes, the organization has served over 100 families in 15 communities on the Iron Range.  Individuals and families are selected based on their need for housing and their willingness to partner in the building of homes.  Homeowner applicants must also demonstrate their ability to pay Habitat’s affordable mortgage.  Habitat works through community support which provides volunteer labor to build homes and staff committees.  Individuals, businesses, churches, organizations, foundations, and government sources all contribute to provide funding for building materials to construct homes.  Mission:  Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope.  To learn more, please go to www.nslchfh.org.

***This press release was originally created by North St. Louis County Habitat for Humanity