Interfaith Build – Habitat For Humanity Denton County

Building on Common Ground

As people of faith, we are called to respond to our neighbors’ needs, acting as God’s hands and feet in service to the world. When we come together to help people build better futures for themselves and their families, we actively participate in doing God’s work in the world. Habitat for Humanity offers concrete ways for people of all faiths to love and serve their neighbors.

Habitat for Humanity of Denton County is a Christian ministry, and we believe that building houses is a practical expression of Christian concern. Habitat invites people of all faith and no faith to join our efforts to eliminate poverty housing, and one does not have to be a Christian to work with Habitat or to be a Habitat homeowner.

A Habitat Interfaith Build brings people together of different backgrounds and faiths to put aside differences, build homes, and celebrate inclusion and diversity within our community. We have gathered different congregations across Denton County for many Interfaith Builds throughout Denton County over the last several years, and we look forward to the next one to come.

Interfaith Build Information

Our most recent Interfaith Build at 506 Wye Street in Denton has officially been completed and was dedicated on Thursday, July 14! Having received the keys during the Dedication, Levatta Crawford and her five children now have a safe and affordable place to finally call “home.” Thank you to our Interfaith Coalition, sponsors, volunteers, and Levatta Crawford & her family for making the building of this home possible. Scroll down on this page to continue reading all about this build, this family, and the Dedication!

Meet Habitat’s 106th Partner Family, the Crawfords!

Levatta Crawford is the single mother of 5 children. She is recently divorced and receives no child support; she works two jobs and is the sole provider for her family. After all she has been through, Levatta continues to have a strong, positive attitude, and, after applying two times, never lost faith in one day owning her own Habitat home.

In December 2015, Levatta’s oldest son was shot and killed. He would have turned 31 last October. With the sudden loss of her son, and the loss of her nephew in a similarly tragic manner just eight months prior, Levatta says she was woken up. She realized she wanted the best in the world for her kids and things needed to change.

When Levatta and her ex-husband separated in the years following her son’s death, she and the five kids needed a place to go, so they rented a small 900 sqft. 2-bedroom home. Levatta was used to working full-time to take care of the kids. In order to afford to give her kids the best life she could, she started working a part-time job in addition to her full-time job. Her resilience and love for her children in the face of immense hardship and trauma is inspiring.

The Crawfords currently rent an overcrowded, 1200 sqft. 3-bedroom apartment, where the 8-year-old son sleeps on the sofa in the living room. She is grateful to be in a better place in life, but their apartment rent is steep and rose again in August 2021 when their lease renewed. Levatta is excited that through Habitat her children will get to live in a stable, safe, and affordable environment that gives them the feeling that this is their home they that can be proud of, and that her young son will finally have his own bedroom.

Upcoming Events & Dates to Know

Wednesday, October 20, 2021 @ 7:00 PM @ Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church: 2021 Interfaith Build Celebration Event

Saturday, December 18, 2021 @ 10:00 AM @ 506 Wye Street, Denton, TX 76205: Groundbreaking Ceremony

Thursday, January 6, 2022 @ 6:00 PM @ Islamic Association of Lewisville/Flower Mound: Volunteer Safety Training and Build Information Event

Saturday, March 5, 2022 @ 506 Wye Street, Denton, TX 76205: Walls Up! First Construction Day on our 106th Home. Contact your volunteer coordinator if interested in signing up to volunteer.

Thursday, July 14, 2022 @ 6:00 PM @ 506 Wye Street, Denton, TX 76205: Dedication Ceremony! We celebrated with hot dogs, cake, and more. Thanks to a generous donor, complimentary Kona Ice was enjoyed to help beat the heat. What a wonderful community celebration honoring the Crawford Family!

Groundbreaking Ceremony

We have officially broken ground on this home! On Saturday, December 18, over 50 people gathered at 506 Wye Street in Denton to witness the Groundbreaking Ceremony that marked the beginning of the 2021 Interfaith Build. This also marked the beginning of a brighter future for the Crawford Family.

Levatta and her five children are such a sweet family, and we are honored to partner alongside them as they build their future. Her youngest and only son, Keenen, got a lot of attention at the ceremony, with many people asking him if he was getting excited to finally have his own room!

Special thanks to our Interfaith Partners and Ruth's Room for supporting this home.

Walls Up!

"Walls Up" on Saturday, March 5 on the Interfaith Build was a success! Thank you to all our amazing volunteers, especially our Interfaith Partners, for making the building of our 106th home possible. We are blessed to have so much support from the community as we build this home alongside the Crawford Family.

We will be building this home for the next 12 weeks, through the beginning of June 2022. Please contact your congregation's volunteer coordinator or call Habitat at 940-484-5006 if interested in getting involved and volunteering!

Blue board and siding and windows... oh my!

During the first half of April, our volunteers successfully installed multiple items onto our Interfaith Build home at 506 Wye Street in Denton: the "blue board," a special type of drywall; the siding; windows and doors; and the fascia, which is a transition trim between the home and the roof that supports the shingles and keeps out moisture. Keep in mind, many of our volunteers have little to no experience in construction, yet Habitat continues to build high quality, energy-efficient homes that pass all inspections, year after year. A generous heart and willingness to serve goes a long way at Habitat Denton!

Special thanks to St. Andrew Presbyterian Church for providing lunch on Saturday, April 9!

Painting!

On Saturday, April 23, our Interfaith partners continued the work on the Crawford Family's future home, giving the house and shed two coats of paint! The paint color that Levatta chose for her new home is called "Caribou Brown." Our Partner Families get to choose several aspects of their home based on their likenesses, including cabinet color, appliance color, light fixture styles, and more! In addition to the stability, security, and safety that a a Habitat home offers, this is just one more way to make their new house feel more like home.

Special thanks to Creekwood Christian Church for providing a delicious casserole lunch on Saturday, April 23!

Drywall

We've made fast progress on the future home of the Crawford Family in the last couple of weeks! On Saturday, May 7, our Interfaith volunteers moved all 122 sheets of drywall into the house for installation, and Saturday, May 14th's volunteers installed the drywall inside the home.

Special thanks to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for generously providing lunch for all volunteers on April 30, and to Flower Mound United Methodist Church for providing lunch on May 14.

Interior Paint, Cabinets, and Concrete

Thanks to the hard work of our awesome Interfaith volunteers, this house is moving along smoothly. The whole interior of the home has a fresh coat of white paint! The kitchen cabinets have also been installed, thanks to our corporate partner, IKEA. Also just this week, the concrete for the driveway and sidewalks for the home have been poured! This home is nearing completion and we are so grateful for all the volunteers, partners, and sponsors making homeownership possible for the Crawford Family.

Special thanks to the Baha'i Faith Center of Flower Mound for generously providing lunch for all volunteers on May 21.

Retaining Wall

Volunteers from our Interfaith partner congregations came out to help build a retaining wall for this home. Not all of our homes have this feature, but with the difference in ground elevation on this specific lot, the retaining wall is necessary to battle gravity and retain that difference in ground elevation that you see here. This was a huge task that could not have been accomplished alone. THANK YOU to all our volunteers for their amazing work!

The flooring and interior doors of the home have also been installed. Our volunteers also came out in the heat one Saturday to smooth the yard and spread Dyno dirt.

Special thanks to Flower Mound United Methodist Church for generously providing lunch for all volunteers on June 11.

Dedication!

On Thursday, July 14, 2022, we had the honor of dedicating our 106th home to the Crawford Family at 506 Wye Street in Denton.

With over 70 people in attendance, including past and future Habitat homeowners, the Crawfords' extended family, our Interfaith Coalition members, and numerous volunteers, the Crawfords were enthusiastically welcomed into their new home. Despite the heat, all in attendance enjoyed hot dogs, cookies, lemonade, and Kona Ice, as we celebrated this amazing day in the life of the Crawford Family!

Levatta Crawford, as well as all five of her children, spoke during the ceremony to thank the volunteers and Habitat staff for everything. Katlyn Crawford, the eldest of the kids, was old enough to work on the build site, and she shared that "The building of this home did really impact me because now I know what I want to be in the future. I want to be an architect!"

We were honored to have City of Denton Mayor Gerard Hudspeth and District 1 Council Member Vicki Byrd in attendance. Mayor Hudspeth graciously spoke on the issue of affordable housing in Denton and Habitat's important role in contributing to the solution. As a fellow resident of Southeast Denton, Mayor Hudspeth gave the Crawfords a warm "welcome to the neighborhood!" The Denton Quilt Guild blessed the family by donating a beautiful handmade quilt that was presented during the ceremony, and Pastor Tyrone Nash, the Crawford Family's pastor, presented Levatta with a Bible and led the crowd in the prayers of blessing over of the home.

This home was built as part of Habitat's "Interfaith Build," a way to bring people together of different backgrounds and faiths to put aside differences, build a home, and celebrate inclusion and diversity within our community. Over 200 volunteers helped build this home through our Interfaith Coalition made up of ten faith organizations in Denton County: Baha'i Faith Center of Flower Mound, Creekwood Christian Church, Faith Lutheran Church, Flower Mound United Methodist Church, Islamic Association of Lewisville-Flower Mound, Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Village Church, and Trietsch Memorial United Methodist Church.

The build was led by site leader and long-time volunteer, Bill Stewart, along with our amazing "Build Committee" volunteers. And, as part of her partnership with Habitat, Levatta Crawford invested more than 300 hours of her own labor, called "sweat equity," into the building of her home.

Levatta Crawford and her five children now have a safe and affordable place to finally call "home." Thank you to all involved for the hard work and love poured into the building of this home!