Habitat for Humanity of Ogle County held a blessing and open house Sunday for its latest completed build.

The 1,100-square-foot, three-bedroom ranch house at 117 Prairie Moon Drive in Davis Junction will be home to a family of three.

Habitat chooses partner families through an application process and families put in “sweat equity” and help to build the home alongside volunteers. Habitat partner families have interest-free mortgages on the homes, which often see monthly payments that are lower than what they were previously paying in rent.

“We celebrated our 15th home build with our Davis Junction home,” Habitat Executive Director Sheri Anspaugh said. “It was our first home in Davis Junction. “We invited the community, including our supporters, volunteers and donors, to come see what a quality-built Habitat house looks like. We celebrated with our partner family and gave them the chance to thank everyone who got involved to make it happen for them. It was a great celebration and turnout.”

Ground was broken on the project in October 2024. The lot was donated by the Village of Davis Junction. Habitat for Humanity of Ogle County has been building homes since 2002. It does its best to build a home every other year, and does Brush with Kindness home improvements for those in need during in-between years.

Anspaugh called building the home in Davis Junction “wonderful” and said neighbors volunteered to help with construction and donations. She thanked every person and organization that donated time, work, materials and funds to the project.

Anspaugh is Habitat’s only staff member and is part time. She thanked the organization’s volunteer board and others who helped to move the project forward.

“The support we saw for this project means everything,” Anspaugh said. “We can’t do what we do without that support. We’re a small Habitat affiliate, but we do big work in the community. We have a small group of people that make things happen. We have a real working board. They put in so much time. They sacrifice so much to make things happen for people like our partner family who need decent, safe, affordable homes. They all have servants’ hearts.”

Habitat created a “Stud-a-Thon” fundraiser for the home build, with people, organizations and businesses having the chance to sponsor studs for the home for a fee. The studs were decorated and signed with well wishes for the families before being returned and incorporated into the build.

“We had about 50 stud sponsors,” Anspaugh said. “It was neat to see so much more involvement from the community because of that. It was a great way to spread the word about what we do in Ogle County. That fundraiser brought in about $20,000 for the build. It was a great boost for getting started and we’ll continue to do that fundraiser in the future.”

Habitat for Humanity of Ogle County has plans to build its next home in 2027 in Rochelle. It saw 11 families apply for its Davis Junction home, which the family will move into this month.

“It’s very rewarding knowing what the end result will be,” Anspaugh said. “I’ve worked with two families now on builds. It’s a huge blessing seeing the looks on their faces and knowing where they’re coming from and their living situation that they’re now going to be in a place that they can call home and feel safe that’s a healthy environment with good neighbors. It’s so rewarding to see it all come together and know what a bright future they have because of the work we’ve put in to help them.”