"It's a dream come true."

Those were the words of Josie Doerksen upon receiving the keys to her new Habitat For Humanity home Thursday morning in Grunthal.

"We wanted this for so long," says Doerksen. "But the bank never gave us a mortgage because we don't make that much. It's a dream come true."

In July of last year, the Southeast Chapter of Habitat For Humanity announced it had two eligible families and would begin to build. Those families were Wes and Josie Doerksen, with children Coen and Lily and then Gabi Friesen and children Boe and Dorian.

(Doerksen house)Spokesperson Sheri Bueckert says a single parent family must put in 350 hours of sweat equity, while a two parent family needs to contribute 500 hours. At Thursday's ceremony it was announced both families far exceeded those targets. In fact, she says it was absolutely phenomenal to see the support for both families.

"It's just fabulous to see the support from the parents and people just around encouraging their kids," says Bueckert. "They're all hard working families that are deserving of these homes. So it's just great to see everybody working as a team."

Doerksen says it was her Mother who sent Habitat a letter stating why they were deserving of a home. After making it through the screening process they eventually received that long awaited phone call.

"We got a phone call saying that we were chosen for the second family and it was amazing, we were all in tears," she says.

Doerksen says up until now they had been living in a two bedroom apartment in Grunthal. She says it was so cramped that most of their belongings still sat in boxes.

(Friesen house)"This will be nice to just get all settled in, unpacked and get the kids settled into their own bedrooms," she says.

Doerksen guesses they contributed more than 600 hours of sweat equity.

Gabi Friesen admits she was terrified when she learned her family had been selected. But after putting in nearly 400 hours of sweat equity, Friesen says her kids are more than ready to move from their cramped home in La Broquerie.

"For months now they've been talking about new rooms, new house," says Friesen. "Today they were up at six o'clock ready to go."

Friesen says the support from family has been tremendous, noting if not for them she would have drowned in the sweat equity hours.

For Bueckert, she says it's an incredible feeling to experience moving day.

The Southeast Chapter of Habitat For Humanity has now built 14 homes. Bueckert says they are looking at different land options, and are considering Mitchell as the location for their next build. But Bueckert says a ground breaking ceremony is probably 12 to 24 months away.

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Habitat Approves Second Grunthal Family