Family of Five to Celebrate New Four-Bedroom Bungalow with Habitat Home Dedication at 2 p.m. TODAY (Feb. 28, 2025) in Blanchard, Oklahoma

BLANCHARD, OK—When Stephanie T. met her future husband, Alexander T., several years ago, they quickly bonded over their love of vintage cars. They soon discovered they had much more in common. Both grew up in large families, were divorced from their high school sweethearts and had children from previous marriages. As Stephanie stated in her and Alexander’s application to buy a Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity home, they were both “nervous at first to open our hearts.”

Today, the T. family consists of “the perfect idea of yours, mine and our” children,” which includes Elijah, age 9, Eliee, age 5, and Xander, age 2. Together, they will celebrate the Habitat home dedication of their new house at 2 p.m. TODAY (Feb. 28, 2025) in Blanchard, Oklahoma.

“Alexander and I grew up with large families, including him being one of nine children and myself having nine brothers and three sisters,” Stephanie stated. “With such big families, we never got a space of our own, and that’s something we, as parents ourselves, strive for now. We want to give them a space within our home to become the best versions of themselves.”

CUTLINE 2: (L-R) New Homeowners Stephanie and Alexander T. are Habitat happy after buying their new home in Blanchard, Oklahoma.

After she and Alexander married, Stephanie became a stay-at-home mom to help raise the three children while Alexander continued to work full-time. She said this allows her family to avoid rising daycare costs in today’s high-priced economy. They were also challenged to afford a new house due to the affordable housing crisis, but have felt blessed since they began working with Habitat.

“We’re able to provide a safe space for our children to grow and become the people they will become,” Stephanie stated. “We’ll be able to create these new memories in a new never-lived-in-before space – best of all, Habitat can (help) provide that to us. We have looked at so many different ways to try to give our children the life we wish we could have had, and Habitat is allowing us to help fulfill one of the best things in life – a HOME to call ours.

“Thank you TREMENDOUSLY for helping us to find our happily ever after!”

Central Oklahoma Habitat Chair/CEO Ann Felton Gilliland said T. family’s new four-bedroom home is the 1,122nd built by Central Oklahoma Habitat since 1990.

“We purchased the land from the Delta Community Action Foundation for our affordable housing Habitat community in Blanchard, Oklahoma, in 2012,” Felton Gilliland said. “We transformed three lots into a neighborhood park and have more than 25 Habitat homes in the community owned by limited-income individuals and families. We’re delighted the T. family partnered with our New Home Construction program and benefited by buying their new and energy-efficient house for cost and without a down payment.”

Applicants for Central Oklahoma Habitat’s New Home Construction program must meet specific qualifications to be considered, including a credit score of more than 600 and the ability to make regular payments on an affordable mortgage. Applicants must also match the 2024 HUD annual income by family size guidelines for consideration.

Potential homeowners interested in seeing if they qualify to buy a Habitat home can take a one-minute quiz at See if You Qualify for Homeownership | 1 Minute Survey or https://okchabitat.com/cc-one-minute-survey/. For more information about Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity, please visit www.cohfh.org or call 405-232-4828.