Checking in on the newest additions to the Habitat family.

On January 10^th, Habitat for Humanity of Washington and Dodge Counties dedicated its 29^th home, turning over the keys to Alyssa Thimmesch and her 5-year-old daughter, Analiesia.   A few weeks later, the Thimmesch’s have moved and are beginning to settle in.  Alyssa is still working to turn the house into their home, but with Analiesia’s artwork already taking a prominent place on the refrigerator door, they are well on their way.

After months of searching and unable to find an affordable apartment, Alyssa and Analiesia shared a room in her Mother’s house; a small home which they shared with 4 other people.  As grateful as she was to her family for a roof over her and Analiesia’s heads, quarters were cramped and there wasn’t much privacy. Alyssa has had plenty of experience with moving, so now knowing she doesn’t have to worry about moving again is “a huge relief”.

Though she didn’t initially think she would qualify for a Habitat home, she heard that Habitat was looking for partner families for home projects.  Her Dad, who owns a Habitat home in Sheboygan Falls for roughly 21 years, encouraged her to apply.  Alyssa met all of the requirements and was quickly accepted into the program.  She has held a steady job for over a year, was able to come up with the required down payment and was eager to fulfill the community service and “sweat equity” components of the program.    

For Alyssa, a single mother, who works as a nursing assistant at Cedar Community, it was a huge challenge to put in the required hours of sweat equity (helping to build her new home). She has been going to school full time, working full time, and taking care of Analiesia.  It was tough, but having the stability of a home of her own was an important cornerstone to the future she is working to build for her daughter and herself.  She said there were a lot of tears involved, both happy and overwhelmed.  It was a challenge to take on so many responsibilities.  She would get up early, spend a few hours in the morning with Analiesia, get her off to school, head to the build site, rush home to change, head off to work/school, pick up Analiesia,  say ‘goodnight’ and do their bedtime routine, then hit the books. The next day, she would get up and repeat the process.  Alyssa continues to work toward completion of her nursing degree.  Her goal is to achieve her BSN within the next few years.  Even with all that going on, toward the end of the build, Alyssa would spend late hours (a few times as late as 3 AM) at the site painting, finalizing projects, and cleaning up.  

Alyssa considers herself to be pretty handy and said she really enjoyed being part of the build.  She enjoyed the process and devoted over 300 hours of effort to the build.  She was there from digging the foundation to roofing, drywall and mudding, as well as putting all the finishing touches on.  “It was quite a bit of work, but so much fun!”

Knowing what she put into the build gave her a tremendous appreciation for the volunteers that 

put in so much effort throughout the process.  She is also extremely grateful to the many sponsors and donors that provided materials and labor for the build. For Alyssa, it was an amazing experience for her to work side by side with the seemingly endless stream of volunteers that donated their time and effort to help shape her future.  She smiles and her eyes light up when she is talking about the friendships she developed along the way. 

Alyssa wanted to remember all of those that worked on the project so she asked each member of the build team to put up a selfie on Instagram so she could put together a “selfie guestbook”.  She wishes she would have gotten the word out sooner and been able to have had all of the volunteers to participate because she considers them to have become part of a huge milestone in her life and would like to look back at the many wonderful people who made this home possible.

She gets very animated telling how she loves working at the ReStore in West Bend, (where she fulfilled the community service component of the program).  “It has become one of my favorite places”. 

She plans to continue to stop in to lend a hand or just visit the people working on the Habitat build next door, but now that she has satisfied her sweat equity commitment, her first priority is to get Analiesia acclimated to the home, and soon, her new school.  

When asked to put into words how much her new home means to Alyssa, she said “it is a huge blessing”.   For Analiesia, the best part is “having my own room”.   Although Alyssa didn’t say it, I am guessing she probably feels the same way.

Alyssa has planned, as a reward to Analiesia for her patience, understanding, support and love through the process of building their home, and tolerating the less than ideal hours of going to school and working, to take a trip to Disney World. Having the stable footing of their affordable home from Habitat for Humanity, Alyssa will be able to save up and fulfill her promise to her daughter. While most stories would end at this point with “and they lived happily ever after”, for Alyssa, Analiesia and their new home, the story is just beginning.