From the Winter 2024 print newsletter
This holiday season, Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity held our Gingerbread Home Build for the fifth time. For this fun competition, groups decorate a gingerbread home, then raise funds in the form of “votes” for their completed home. Proceeds benefit our Veterans Build home.
This year, we decided to try something new: an in-person Gingerbread Village decorating event for local church youth groups at the ReStore Northeast.
“At Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity, we believe that individuals of all ages should be able to put their faith in action and help our organization drive our mission forward in the local community. So our Faith in Action program intentionally creates periodic events throughout the year that are youth-centered, which provide an opportunity for students to get engaged,” explains Chloe Henry, Faith in Action program manager. “For this event, as we approached the advent season, we wanted to provide an opportunity for church youth groups to be able to not only participate in a fun Christmas-themed event, but also work on a project that would tangibly make a difference for a family in our community.”
The inaugural event brought together youth from two local churches: Grace and St. Stephens Episcopal, and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic. A representative from Thrivent also participated. And because
proceeds from this year’s Gingerbread Home Build benefit our 5th Veterans Build, our veteran family—Damian, Trinady, and their twin 2-year-old daughters—joined in the fun, so teenagers had a chance to meet the people being impacted by their decorating and fundraising efforts.
“Decorating the gingerbread home was lots of fun, especially with our family and our girls, who thoroughly enjoyed eating all the icing and the candy off our home!” says Trinady. “It means a lot that these youth participated in order to help us with raising money towards our home.”
The event was a success, with participants expressing their enjoyment. “The kids had a lot of fun!” says Henry. “It was a joy to look around and see youth groups get excited about working on a project together as a team.”
At the end of the evening, each team made a brief presentation about their design. Judges awarded prizes for such categories as Best Teamwork, Most Creative, Best Christmas Attire, and Best Gingerbread House Made by Those Two Years Old and Under.
“As an Apostles Build subcommittee, we wanted to provide an opportunity to teach youth that they can make a difference in their community and share the love of Christ with others through their actions,” explains Henry. “It was so fun to hear about the creativity and ingenuity that all the groups put into their design!”
Trinady says their family really enjoyed being part of the event. “This was our first year building a gingerbread house, and although the girls ate most of it, it was a fun thing to do as a family!” she notes.
When she and Damian move into their new home, “We are looking forward to starting and continuing many traditions, including baking as a family in our new kitchen every year for the holidays!” she says. “We hope now to be able to invite family over to stay for the holidays and not have to worry about being in a cramped apartment.”
And she doesn’t rule out the possibility that more gingerbread homes are in her family’s future.
“We would like to say thank you to all those who participated in the Gingerbread Build, as well as those who…donated,” she concludes. “This means so much to our family, and it is great that so many people are willing to help Habitat for Humanity and our home build. If it were not for all the participants and donations, we would not be where we are today and going through this process.”
