Family Services

Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley expanded its Family Services department in early 2021 to connect families with wrap-around support services.

Building Futures helps connect any and all families—not just Habitat families—with local services, setting them up for long-term success by giving them tools and knowledge.

Homeowners partner with Habitat: Each adult volunteers 250 hours to build their home. In addition, every homeowner participates in comprehensive homebuyer and financial literacy workshops that are customized for our unique community. To ensure every family is set up for success, we meet them where they are and help them on their path to stability.

10:1

Habitat historically
receives 10 aplications
for every one home we
build in Eagle County

14

educational workshops
held with new
homeowners anually

463

people housed

200+

people annually seek
out Habitat Vail Valley
for connection
beyond housing

Magdalena’s Story

Housing + Education

Magdalena has educated hundreds, if not thousands, of preschoolers since 2011 when she started working on the Magic Bus, a mobile preschool. She’s also a mobilizer—the one in the community who others go to for information on everything from swim lessons to English classes.

Magdalena bustles around the Magic Bus, helping one child with numbers, comforting another who feels shy, organizing the next lesson plan. She switches seamlessly between English and Spanish, stern and loving—a beacon of calm for the kids she sees two times per week throughout the year.

Magdalena and her husband Pedro are parents to three young women. When they moved into their Habitat home in 2009, their lives changed for the better. The home provided stability. Prior, they had moved three times in quick succession. As soon as they moved in, she felt connected to her community, involved and ready to take on more.

She worked in her youngest daughter’s kindergarten classroom when the teacher, a mentor, encouraged her to look forward. The future for the Lopezes was—and is—bright: Education is the starting point. After her stint at Edwards Elementary she
moved on to teach at the Magic Bus.

She encourages the preschoolers and their parents to test themselves. “You know when a mom is working with the kids—they know their first and last names, all the colors, they count to 100, they’re doing addition. It’s impressive how they start growing and growing.”

As she encourages the younger generation, she pushes herself. Magdalena is working towards her associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education. When asked, Magdalena is quick to say that she would not have accomplished all she has without the one thing we all need: Home.