ROANOKE, Va. – Wednesday marks the start of this year’s “Home for Good” project, a partnership that brings together WSLS, Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley, community sponsors, and volunteers to build a home for a deserving local family.
The family buying this year’s Home for Good says owning a home will have a major impact on their lives.
Omer Ali and Fateema Abdelgadir are proud to call the Roanoke Valley home. Omer was born in Sudan and his wife Fateema, a Sudanese-American, was born in New York. Both of their children were born in Roanoke.
“I call Roanoke home,” Ali said. “My kids, it’s already home for them.”
Omer and Fateema said their children are their motivation for pursuing homeownership through Habitat for Humanity’s homebuyer program.
“I’m trying to save a house for my kids after I leave this life, so at least they have something so they can stay after I leave this life,” Ali said.
As a part of the homebuying process, families attend classes on homeownership and finances. They also have a major hand in building their own home, which Habitat calls “sweat equity.”
“It feels good to build your own house,” Ali said. “At least we can learn a lot of stuff after Habitat hands us the keys so we can fix it by ourselves after we get the house.”
The Ali family is on track to get the keys to their house this fall and transform a lot in southeast Roanoke into their Home for Good.
“This is like a dream come true for us, " Ali said.