the first #HTBB

After four years of sharing a single bedroom at her mom's, Emma and young her sons are finally "home" thanks to the 2020 House that Beer Built, sponsored by Olympic Eagle Distributing and Constellation Brands. 

Prior to living with her mom, Emma and the boys had an apartment but her income couldn't keep up with increasing rent. “I didn’t make enough to be able to rent an apartment,” she says. “My credit was great, but I didn’t have enough income. It has just been really difficult to even find a decent place."

Emma's home was made possible by both the financial sponsorship and volunteer labor that the Olympic Eagle and Constellation Brands' teams put in. Volunteers spent most Fridays on site, from the summer of 2020 through March of 2021. All told, they put in 547 hours of volunteer service. 

Olympic Eagle’s Director of Marketing, Neil Pearson, said about the House That Beer Built, "It definitely felt like a piece of our company. Just walking through it, there’s a smile on everyone’s face. People are like, ‘I’ve never done flooring, but I did that flooring,’ or ‘I’ve never put a cabinet up, but I put that cabinet up. It feels like it’s your own house at some level. … You get to see it progress, and go from start to finish.”

Emma says, “It will be a sense of relief, just knowing that I will be good, and don’t have to worry about where I’m going to lay my head. The fact that we got lucky enough to get three bedrooms — and the kids will have an option to have their own rooms — is even more exciting."

“Because of your generous sponsorship, I can have peace of mind knowing that my kids will finally have stable housing – a place that they'll grow and dream BIG.”  

Did you know? 

Due to increased housing costs and stagnant incomes, nearly one-third of US households are cost burdened (i.e., spend more than 30% of their income toward housing). Little money is left for food, health care, and other basic necessities. 

Yet homeownership continues to be the number one way to asset generation and building wealth. The net worth of a homeowner is 44 times that of a renter. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, 2013-2106) 

With Habitat for Humanity, a family’s mortgage is set at no more than 30% of their monthly income. For Habitat homeowners, the stability of an affordable mortgage is the hand-up needed to create strength and self-reliance and escape poverty.