The Jimenez Family Story

“We feel this is our place, we have a sense of belonging. We are putting roots here, this is the place where our kids are going to grow.”

Anna met Guillermo on a college trip to Honduras in 2003. In 2008 their lives intersected again when Anna accepted a position at a nonprofit in the country and Guillermo was visiting home from college in the states. Their long-distance relationship blossomed, and when Guillermo graduated, they were married in Honduras. 

After the birth of their first son, Guillermo took a job with a nonprofit in Seattle. Unable to pay rent in the city, they relocated to Everett. They quickly outgrew their 800-square-foot apartment with the addition of another son. 

Unexpected spikes in rental costs stressed their finances. Saving up for a down payment on a house was going to take a decade of savings and the delaying or abandonment of other financial needs. 

“You’re spending all that amount of money to save for housing, but then you start getting older, start thinking about saving for children’s education or ‘Oh, I’m getting old, I probably need something for retirement.’ It’s a big psychological pressure,” Guillermo said.

After learning they would be the next Habitat Snohomish homeowners, Anna and Guillermo invested their time and energy every Saturday to build their home. “It’s very rewarding to participate in the construction of your own house,” Guillermo said. “We feel this is our place, we have a sense of belonging. We are putting roots here, this is the place where our kids are going to grow.”

Habitat for Humanity of Snohomish County will begin the second phase of home construction at Twin Creeks Village in the summer of 2020. The project will provide 24 additional families an affordable place to live by 2026. 

Anna and Guillermo look forward to helping their future Habitat neighbors build their homes at Twin Creeks Village. “It’s life changing to move into this,” Anna said. “And when I think about 24 more families moving into that and getting this miracle of housing I think ‘that’s amazing, I hope I can do everything to support that.”’

The Jimenez family on the steps of their new home