A Findlay mother of four who once shared a small two-bedroom apartment with her three younger children now has a house with a yard — and she helped build it. Miranda Phillips received the keys to her new Findlay home through a partnership between Habitat for Humanity of Findlay/Hancock County and Marathon Petroleum, the companies announced in a release issued through ACCESS Newswire on Nov. 9.
Phillips, a full-time medical assistant, completed 400 hours of sweat equity — time spent helping build homes and supporting other Habitat projects — and had finished most of those hours before volunteers gathered to raise the first walls of her own home, according to the release. She also completed financial education courses to prepare for homeownership, and like other homeowners she will make monthly mortgage payments over 30 years, at a lower interest rate, the release said.
“It’s hard to put into words what this moment means to our family,” Phillips said in the Marathon Petroleum release. “We’ve been looking forward to this day for so long, and now it’s finally here. The kids are excited, I’m excited, and we can’t wait to start making memories in our new home.”
The dedication carried a personal connection years in the making. Phillips once babysat the children of Jacqui Schlachter, Marathon Petroleum’s Supply Chain Midstream Operations and Corporate Services Senior Director, and at the dedication Schlachter presented Phillips with the keys, according to the release. “A house dedication is more than the completion of a building. It is the beginning of a new chapter,” Schlachter said in the release. “These homes will be places where families gather, milestones are celebrated and memories are made for years to come.”
The Phillips home was not built alone. More than 250 Marathon Petroleum employees worked over 300 shifts and contributed more than 1,400 volunteer hours to help build three homes for local families, including Home No. 72 built alongside the Phillips family, according to the release. The dedication also celebrated two other families whose new homes were completed alongside the Phillips home.
“I’m especially proud of the more than 250 MPC employees who worked over 300 shifts and contributed more than 1,400 hours,” Schlachter said in the Marathon Petroleum release. “Their commitment shows what we can accomplish when we work together to support families in our community.”
For the family, the change is practical as well as emotional. After sharing the small apartment, Phillips now has room for her oldest daughter and three grandchildren to visit, and a yard for the younger children to enjoy, according to the release. “To know that my kids have a place to grow up, feel safe and truly call their own is everything,” Phillips said in the release. “We’re finally home.”
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on. What is known: the dedication has taken place, the keys have been handed over, and three Findlay-area families in total were celebrated at the dedication, according to the Marathon Petroleum release. What comes next for the partnership’s next build season — how many homes follow Home No. 72 and when the next wall-raising is scheduled — has not been announced in the release.
“Handing over the keys is always one of the most rewarding parts of what we do,” Habitat for Humanity of Findlay/Hancock County Executive Director Warren Long said in the release. “It’s the moment when all the hard work, generosity and collaboration come together for a family. We’re incredibly grateful to Marathon Petroleum and the volunteers who helped make this day possible.”
Habitat’s model is part of why the story resonates beyond one address: homeowners invest their own labor, complete financial education, and pay an affordable mortgage, while volunteers and a hometown employer supply much of the workforce. Marathon Petroleum is headquartered in Findlay, and its employees’ volunteer shifts turned a corporate partnership into a neighborhood project built by people who live in the same community.
Related coverage from NewsForce247: the $22 million Mission Point groundbreaking for 65 supportive homes in Toledo and a $300,000 grant funding essential home repairs in Hocking, Athens and Perry counties.
What happens next is the ordinary, happy work of moving in: Phillips and her children settling into a home she can say she helped build — something she said back in August she could not wait to say, according to the release — while Habitat of Findlay/Hancock County and its volunteers turn to the next families in line.
Photo: Mbrickn, CC BY-SA