When the young daughter of Ali Hernandez and Rimvydas Balciunas broke ground in her future home in Sister Bay with her tiny toy shovel, her parents could also see an entire community of people witnessing it unfold.
Close to three dozen people congregated at the end of Ava Hope Trail in Sister Bay to celebrate the groundbreaking of a house being built for Ramirez, who works at the nearby Northern Door Children's Center. The future home started as a grant written by the United Way of Door County to address the peninsula's childcare challenges. Their work led to a Workforce Innovation Grant from the State of Wisconsin that allowed the United Way of Door County to partner with the Door County Housing Partnership to purchase ten lots from the Village of Sister Bay for $100,000, well below what they could have gone for on the open market. United Way of Door County Executive Director Amy Kohnle is excited to see the ten lots turn into a neighborhood.
Mariah Goode has been with the Door County Housing Partnership since it was created over five years ago to establish a strategy to develop affordable housing in the area. The partnership has helped build six homes in Door County, but Goode says it is important that the organization lays its foundation in the Sister Bay area.
Assisting the Door County Housing Partnership with the home is Door County Habitat for Humanity, which will provide the labor to build the home. In a year when they did not have their own partner family, Executive Director Lori Allen is thrilled that the organization will be able to support their mission with a home build.
It meant a lot to Ramirez and Balciunas that so many people supported their dream of owning a home.
You can support the build by donating money to the Door County Housing Partnership or time to the Door County Habitat for Humanity.
