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Meraz Family & Salazar Family logo
Please Welcome Habitat for Humanity’s Newest Silt Partner Families

Meet Nora Meraz and her daughters Ana, 16, Natalie, 11 and Ruby 4.

Growing up in Basalt, with extended family still residing in the mid-valley, Nora has never considered leaving the area. After the struggle of completing High School at Yampa as a teen Mom, Nora began her career in the medical field at the front desk of Mountain Family Health Centers. Next she attended CMC to achieve her CNA and has a dream of one day becoming a Registered Nurse.

Nora works as a Medical Assistant at Grand River Health. This essential position in our community provides Nora and her family with enough income to get by, but, without Habitat’s assistance, not enough income to ever achieve the goal of homeownership.

Ana is proud to be a part of Rifle High School’s elite IB program and her goal of becoming an Emergency Room Pediatrician already set. Natalie, who is bursting with character, will quickly talk her way into your heart, with her dreams of becoming a lawyer. Ruby is full of smiles and love from her family!
Habitat analyzes “Need” (as well as readiness) when selecting families and the Meraz family is currently overcrowded in their two bedroom rental unit in Rifle. A new home will provide space for these three young women to spread their wings, soaring to achieve their high aspirations.

Meet Raynee and Michael Salazar Jr. and their daughter Chloe

Michael moved to Silt into his family’s Habitat for Humanity Home for his senior year of high school. He admits to not fully comprehending the opportunity his family was being presented, and was quite resentful of having to move. As a teenage boy all he wanted was to graduate from Grand Valley High School with his friends. He specifically remembers the moment he began to understand what home ownership meant to his parents. The day they moved into their home, he watched his stoic hard working parents, sitting on the floor of an empty home sobbing in each other’s arms.

Fast forward a few years, Michael has become a father and his main goal is to provide a stable home for Chloe. While Raynee only imagines how home ownership dramatically helps families. She moved almost every year growing up, struggling to start a new school every fall and gave up unpacking boxes. All she wants for her daughter, like most parents, is the stability of growing up in a consistent home.

Habitat statistics show that children living in a home their parents own are 118% more likely to attend college.

47

volunteers
CLOSED

Location / Venue

  • Address:
  • 1470 Grand Ave
  • Silt, CO 81652
  • USA
Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley logo
In Support of Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley
Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley partners with local families who otherwise would not be able to afford a home of their own, through conventional means. We build homes in partnership with local families in need of a hand-up, not a hand-out.  The wide gap between our high resort area cost of living (especially for housing) and the actual rural community wages makes it difficult to retain teachers, and essential personnel within our area- all who hold jobs that are key to the well being of our children and community, but cannot afford to live close to where they work. 

Our local Habitat has been building homes with lower income families for almost 20 years,  but we have become increasingly aware of the acute need for housing for the middle income workers who provide vital services to our community.  This is what brought about an extraordinary collaboration with the Roaring Fork School District, Pitkin County, and the Town of Basalt to build the Basalt Vista Housing Partnership- located behind Basalt High School- which provided 27 affordable homes.   Our current development is Wapiti Commons located in South Rifle.  We have started construction on 20 affordable homes consisting of  ten 3-bedroom townhomes and two  3-bedroom condos for families, and eight 1-bedroom condos for older adults or small families.  Our next development will be homes in Glenwood Springs so please watch for details on our website.

Habitat for Humanity is a movement of people who build more than houses. By bringing homeowners together with volunteers, donors, community leaders, foundations, and other supporters we are building stable families, safe neighborhoods, and caring communities. 
YOUR GIFT MATTERS

$50

Purchase a gallon of paint.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

$100

Purchase a kitchen sink.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

$250

Purchase a bathtub/shower.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

$500

Paint the interior of a home.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

$1,000

Purchase the lighting package for a home.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

$2,500

Help purchase windows for a home.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE

$5,000

Purchase a truss package to help support the roof over a family.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE