Mom is Esther McMillan, who grew up very poor in a family with 7 children. Her extended family has also been involved with the build from the beginning. During this time, Esther’s Dad passed away unexpectedly, and was buried in his Thrivent t-shirt. KHFH actually uses this family quite frequently for their advertising. Dad is Dustin Smith, who has some health issues. Because of this, Esther and Dustin had to be very particular about the location where their home was to be built. Esther and Dustin have a son named Christian, who is 7 years old.

This family is very involved in Habitat for Humanity. They have faced obstacle after obstacle with this home, and still manage to stay positive. They are on the job site whenever possible, and have helped with other builds, as well. KHFH requires 350 hours of sweat equity before a family can move into their home. This family logged over 500 hours before their build even started.

The home is located on Brown Street in Berea. They partnered up with Thrivent Builds and several local churches to build this home in July 2018. Esther, Dustin, and Christian will be awarded this home, which will meet HUD requirements, at 0% interest. Since a normal build only takes 4 to 6 months, their goal was to be finished by December 2018. Around late September or early October, the foundation partially collapsed on their home. Luckily, the infrastructure of the home was not compromised, and they were able to shore the foundation up so construction could continue in the meantime.

They have tried several avenues to get the foundation fixed, from contacting the company who poured the foundation, to filing the claim with insurance. Insurance denied the claim. The churches in this small community have already given so much to this project, that they just can’t spare any more. The project will cost about $8000 to fix. Obviously, the weather has not been cooperating to speed the completion of this home. They have set the new finish date for Esther, Dustin, and Christian’s Forever Home for the end of April 2019.