Habitat recently received a generous donation from the James and Marlene Winker Charitable Trust. The $250,000 endowment will help Habitat create lasting change in our community for generations to come! Habitat’s team had the honor of meeting James and Marlene’s children as they presented us with the check on behalf of their departed parents. This gift is just one of many they granted to nonprofit organizations in Sioux Falls. We are so thankful for the Winker family’s gift and cannot wait to see all the good that comes from their generosity over the years.
About the Winkers
James and Marlene lived in Sioux Falls for 61 years getting connected to Habitat through their church. James worked at Raven for 35 years and was instrumental in the field of hot air ballooning. Marlene cared for their five children enjoying gardening, sewing and playing the organ. The couple went on many ballooning adventures together all over the world.
About Legacy Giving
Legacy giving takes many forms. Whether you want your gift to work during your lifetime or after your passing, you can leave a lasting legacy through Habitat.
The 2024 Homeownership program application round will be open October 1-31, 2024. There are a few different ways to get an application this year – please review all the options to determine which will be most helpful for you.
Monday, September 30 // 11 AM-1:30 PM or 4-6:30 PM. The Habitat team will be available to distribute application packets and answer any questions during the listed time frames. No appointment is needed.
Monday, October 7 // 10 AM-5:30 PM The Habitat team will be available to distribute application packets, answer questions, review your application for completeness and advise you if there is anything missing. Individual help will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, unless a prescheduled appointment has been made with Lisa. Call 605-274-6290 to schedule an appointment for October 7.
Online
Starting September 30, ending October 31. You can download an application packet from the Habitat website. You must print the application form and fill it out. Habitat does not offer an online application process.
Starting October 1, ending October 31. Application forms will be available inside the front entrance of the Habitat building at 721 E. Amidon during Habitat ReStore business hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 AM-6 PM. The building is closed on Mondays.
Keep in Mind
The application packet will include instructions for how, where and when to submit the application.
Please review the list of required documentation that must be submitted with the application form! Do not submit your application unless you have included copies of ALL required identification and financial documentation.
Avast ye hearties for the Raise the Roof Reckoning! Grab yer mateys, put a feather in yer cap and chart a course to The District on Friday, March 28.
Ye must uncover a murderous scallywag plaguing the seven seas. Jest Murder Mystery Co. will be back again this year serving up laughs and guiding ye to solve the mystery. Take part in the action or sit back and enjoy the show. With mouthwatering food from ROAM, this is a night ye won’t want to miss!
The Raise the Roof Reckoning will be raising doubloons to fund Habitat for Humanity programs. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, February 5, so make sure ye aren’t marooned without a seat.
If ye want to shore up yer ticket, sponsorships are now available! Bring yer whole crew (of up to 8 or 16) and get yer name on a table for all the other pirates to see. Contact Habitat’s Captain (Executive Director) Rocky Welker at 605-274-6280 or email rocky.welker@siouxfallshabitat.org for more information.
Check back here for updates about the event.
What should ye wear?
We know ye don’t want to stick out like a landlubber, so we created this guide to get ye in ship shape for the reckoning! We don’t want to weigh anchor on yer creativity, though…think outside of the treasure box. Come as the kraken, a parrot or even the Jolly Roger. We can’t wait to see what ye come up with!
Women Build 2024 presented by The First National Bank in Sioux Falls is almost here! This empowering event will bring together women in our community to learn or refine construction skills and work to build and repair homes for our neighbors in need. The volunteer event will take place across two weeks with morning and afternoon shifts available September 25-28 and October 2 and 4. Shifts are first-come, first-served, so be sure to sign up soon!
There is a $10 registration fee to reserve your spot which helps cover the cost of lunch and a Women Build 2024 t-shirt. Due to the nature of volunteer construction, we cannot guarantee a specific location or task. However, the tentative plan for each shift will be listed on the shift registration when we get nearer to the event. Businesses and groups interested in volunteering during Women Build are encouraged to email Brittany, Habitat’s volunteer coordinator.
When you volunteer, please wear clothing that can get dirty, closed-toed shoes and work gloves. You’re welcome to bring your own safety glasses if you have them. All other supplies will be provided. We can’t wait to build with you!
We had the joy of celebrating four home dedications in our Millard Acres development on Friday, August 16! Congratulations to Neway, Netsanet, Shyam, Yasodha, Tiegisti, Hamed, Laila and their families for all the hard work they put in to be able to purchase their homes through Habitat. It’s been almost ten years since Habitat last dedicated four homes at once, and we’re happy to have been able to bring together the Millard Acres neighborhood to do so again!
Millard Acres is Habitat’s first development project that began in 2020. With the dedication of these four homes, it’s over halfway complete, and construction on the next six housing units begins this month. When the development is finished, it will provide 26 families with safe and stable housing.
These homes were made possible by the generosity of our presenting sponsors Pathward, Wells Fargo and Citibank. Thank you to Kinder Future Fund, First Premier Bank, BNSF Railway, U.S. Bank, Target, Resale Living, MaxLite and the Congressional Church of Amery for their significant contributions. We would also like to thank our many other corporate and private donors and volunteers for their support. Thank you to Project Warm-Up for presenting each member of the families with a blanket, as well.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sioux Falls has now completed 193 homes, providing 307 adults and 726 children with secure, affordable housing.
The 2024 application opportunity for the homeownership program will be open October 1-31, 2024. In August, Habitat’s homeowner services coordinator and family selection committee volunteers will be hosting information meetings at the downtown library.
At each meeting, Habitat staff will review the current eligibility criteria, application process, construction locations and timelines, and eligibility screening tools. Staff and committee members will be available to interact with applicants and answer questions.
Meetings are free and open to the public, but registration is required if you wish to reserve a spot and receive reminder notifications. All applicants are encouraged to attend, even those who have applied in the past. Household members 14 and older are welcome.
• Thursday, August 1 @ 12 p.m. (Habitat staff present from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
• Thursday, August 1 @ 5 p.m. (Habitat staff present from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.)
• Friday, August 30 @ 12 p.m. (Habitat staff present from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
• Friday, August 30 @ 3 p.m. (Habitat staff present from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.)
Our Rock the Block event will be back and bigger than ever this spring! We’re completing projects in the Whittier neighborhood June 18-21. Thank you to all who applied. Our fantastic volunteers can’t wait to help you with your project!
Plus, mark your calendars for a free block party in Meldrum Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 22! After completing all our home improvement projects, we want to celebrate the amazing Whittier neighborhood and the work we accomplished together. This family friendly event is one you won’t want to miss!
We could not put on Rock the Block without our generous volunteers and partners! Whether you’re a Whittier resident or a surrounding community member, we’d love to find a way to get you involved.
To learn more about how you can get involved, click here.
Round up your posse, spiff up your boots and join us at 5:30 p.m. on March 23 for our Raise the Roof Roundup at the brand new Monick Yards in downtown Sioux Falls.
We’re russlin’ up murder, mystery and a whole lot of laughs for you folks by bringing in Jest Murder Mystery Co. for the evening. Plus, En Place will be serving up some delicious food bound to fill your bellies to bursting. Don your hats, boots, bandanas and other Wild West getup and get in on the fun while supporting Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sioux Falls!
Tickets are on sale from Wednesday, February 14 through Friday, March 22! Act fast ’cause if you dillydally, you’ll be like the slowpoke in a gun draw – all out of luck.
This isn’t our first rodeo, so we know y’all are wondering what you should wear. We’ve created this guide to help, so you don’t stick out like a debutante who walked into a saloon.
Nothing suit your fancy? We don’t want to rope you into anything. Any Wild West attire will be fine and dandy! We can’t wait to see what y’all come up with!
Where can I park?
There are a couple different places to tie up your horse and park your carriage. Monick Yards has a limited number of spots. If you’re prone to dilly-dallying, you best look at this map to see your other options.
Thank you to our event sponsors:
Gold Mine Sponsor
Silver Dollar Sponsor
Brass Rail Sponsor
Copper Kettle Sponsors
This holiday season, we want to thank all of our donors and volunteers for helping us fulfill our mission of building strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter in Greater Sioux Falls. We’re known for building homes, but that is not all we do. With your help we…
Revitalize our Workforce.
We partner with Southeast Technical College and CTE Academy in Sioux Falls to build homes each year. Donations to Habitat provide the materials needed for their students to learn the construction process from the ground up. They gain essential skills and have valuable construction experience, leading to a better equipped workforce in our area to provide housing for generations to come.
Watch the video below to see CTE Academy Students at work on their Habitat home.
Revitalize our Neighborhoods.
The cost of home repairs and the difficulty in finding a contractor prevented many South Dakota homeowners from getting critical repair work done. To help fill this gap in our area, we committed to increasing our ability to offer affordable home repairs to our low-income neighbors. Now 100 households have had affordable home repairs completed this year, preventing our neighborhoods from falling into disrepair.
Hear about how Habitat’s Neighborhood Revitalization program helped JoAnn and Dave by watching the video below.
Revitalize our Community.
When families have a home, it’s so much more than just a roof over their heads. Homeownership empowers families to create stable lives, improve their job and educational opportunities and invest back into the community where they live.
Thank you for helping us build futures for local students and families.
This summer we had 412 people volunteer doing new construction, neighborhood revitalization, deconstruction and ReStore projects. They collectively spent 4,853 hours with us, and 274 of those people were first-time volunteers. We’re so grateful for their help and support, and we hope they volunteer with us again!
20 Deconstruction Projects
Our Deconstruction Lead, Jason, completed 20 deconstruction projects this summer! We partner with Lloyd Construction Company, the City of Sioux Falls and both commercial and residential property owners to give new life to used building materials and furniture that we can then sell in our ReStore. This year we’ve seen growth of 300% in this program, and we’re excited for even more in the future!
18 NR Projects
Our NR Coordinator, Marcus, with the help of volunteers, completed 18 neighborhood revitalization projects this summer! We helped people all over Greater Sioux Falls with painting, installing safety features, building accessibility ramps and so much more.
5 Days of Women Build
Women Build 2023 presented by the First National Bank in Sioux Falls was held September 13-16 & 27. This is the longest Women Build event we’ve had yet! Over the course of five days, 94 volunteers built twin home foundations and painted a house. We’re so grateful for all the great work they accomplished. To show your interest in Women Build 2024, email Brittany.
4 Home Dedications
We sold and dedicated three homes in our Millard Acres development on July 28 to Genet, Elizabeth, Mahmoud, Intesar and their families. We also dedicated a rehabbed home to Jawhar, Iftu and their children on September 8. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing the happiness and excitement of new homeowners and their families on these days!
We are so grateful for the amazing donors and volunteers that invested their time and resources into building homes with these families. Their homes would not have been possible without the generosity of Pathward, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Thrivent Financial, Runge Enterprises and First Premier Bank.
We have now completed 183 homes, providing 291 adults and 702 children with secure, affordable housing.
3 House Moves
In June, two of our workforce development houses were moved onsite. These homes were built by carpentry students from the CTE Academy and Harrisburg High School during the 2022-23 school year. Then in August, our Baltic house was moved from a production facility in Madison and placed on our foundation in Baltic. All homes are currently being finished by our staff and volunteers.
2 Foundations Started
In August, excavation work began on two twin homes in our Millard Acres development. Throughout September, our construction staff, volunteers and partner families were completing the hard work of building the foundation.
1 Mission
Everything we do is centered around our belief that everyone deserves a decent place to live. We’re building strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter in our community one family at a time. Thank you for supporting our mission!
After years of planning, the Millard Acres housing development is beginning to take shape for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sioux Falls. Habitat partnered with the City of Sioux Falls to secure the land in Northeastern Sioux Falls for development in 2020. Construction began in 2021 and the development was designed to have a low environmental impact which is a core principle of Habitat’s mission. Construction is nearly finished for the first ten homes and, when complete, Millard Acres will provide 26 families with homes that will impact their lives for generations.
We welcomed our 4th family to their new home in the Millard Acres development when Owrshalim and her children moved into their home on April 14th. Owrshalim had difficulty purchasing a home due to the financial strains of being a single mother of two. She shared that she is beyond excited to provide more stability and space for her children and for her family to be able to come to visit. Owrshalim has completed more than 300 hours of sweat equity building her home while taking numerous homeownership classes over the past year. She cannot wait to cook and dine in her new home with her family.
Our annual Raise the Roof Gala will be on Saturday, March 25th at the Country Club of Sioux Falls. Our Gala will include a night of mystery, intrigue, and murder as we are joined by the Murder Mystery Company. Our Raise the Roof Gala is the signature fundraiser for Habitat of Humanity of Great Sioux Falls 2023 home builds. Tickets will go on sale February 10th.
We have sponsorships available for businesses that would like to support Habitat.
With your support, we will continue to make the dream of home ownership a reality in Sioux Falls.
