Hard Work and Ag Build Sponsors Pave the Way to Family’s New Home
When Rhett delivered a load of cement for the roads in the Bluestem Prairie development a year ago, little did he know that he and Habitat Omaha would soon be paving the way for his family to own a home.
A few months after his job brought him to Bluestem Prairie, the 30-year-old concrete truck driver submitted a Home Journey application to own a Habitat Omaha home. About six months later, Rhett, his two children, Maxwell and Allyce, and their mother, Ehmoo, moved into the development’s first-ever “Ag Build” home – a five-bedroom beauty with green siding and white trim.
A few months after his job brought him to Bluestem Prairie, the 30-year-old concrete truck driver submitted a Home Journey application to own a Habitat Omaha home. About six months later, Rhett, his two children, Maxwell and Allyce, and their mother, Ehmoo, moved into the development’s first-ever “Ag Build” home – a five-bedroom beauty with green siding and white trim.
Rhett’s family home was built through the volunteerism and corporate financial support of six agricultural company partners – Farm Credit Services of America, Green Plains, Lindsay, Scoular, Viterra and West Plains. They were among 35 families across the city who moved into their homes during November and December 2023.
Rhett cutting the ribbon with Molly, Habitat Omaha Homeownership Housing Counselor
“I feel excited to own the house,” Rhett said. “It is an accomplishment… like a purpose… a chance to build family equity and a future.”
“Writing the check helps bring these homes to reality,” said Gustavo Oberto, president of global irrigation for Lindsay and a Habitat Omaha board member on behalf of the Ag Build partners. “But our employees contributing the time to actually build the homes is much more valuable . . . It allows Habitat to build homes for a much lower cost.”
Rhett said that even with the home’s lower cost and a low-interest loan, the road to homeownership was long and sometimes bumpy.
A refugee from war-torn Myanmar (formerly Burma), Rhett made his way to California and was a part of the Job Corps, the U.S. Department of Labor’s largest residential training program that helps young people find meaningful careers.
Rhett and his family celebrating this huge milestone with the Ag Build Partners: Farm Credit Services of America, Green Plains, Lindsay, Scoular, Viterra and West Plains.
Rhett then lived in Buffalo, N.Y., before moving to Omaha. He said that along the way, he lived in a house with a friend before moving into an apartment with Ehmoo, who had left Myanmar for Thailand on her way to Omaha, and the two children. The couple had some debt to overcome, too.
“We did have debt, but nothing too difficult,” Rhett added. “I came to America to work hard. We learned to budget.” And there is a significant additional benefit to homeownership in Omaha, he said. “There wasn’t any peace in Myanmar. Now our kids can grow up in peace.”
