EGStoltzfus Homes Completes Their 11th Homes for HOPE Project

EGStoltzfus Homes’ Completes Their 11th Homes for HOPE Project, which generated a record donation of $200,000! This will enable HOPE to serve thousands of families living in some of the toughest places on earth as they build businesses and break the cycle of generational poverty! Mike Hockenberry, Director of Construction at EGStoltzfus, was quick to deflect praise.

“Our trade partners really stepped up on this one. They were extremely generous and made this donation possible…This Homes for HOPE Project was a lot of our trade partners’ 11th Homes for HOPE Project as well!”

Colleen Brubaker, Director of HR at EGStoltzfus, added,

“We so appreciate the incredible work Homes for HOPE continues to do to serve underserved families around the world.”

Our partnership with EGStoltzfus is knit into the fabric of our organization’s founding story.  In HOPE’s earliest days, many people—including the lawyers advising our founder, Jeff Rutt—didn’t believe the microfinance model would work. They weren’t sure if loans in post-Soviet Ukraine would be repaid. And they doubted whether HOPE could effectively balance a Christian witness with high-quality financial services. But when the first 12 people repaid their loans and experienced the love of Christ, a few friends rallied around the mission. 

As founder of Keystone Custom Homes, Jeff turned to his community—fellow homebuilders. One of the first homebuilders to support HOPE was Brent Stoltzfus and his Lancaster, PA based company, EGStoltzfus. Even though Brent and Jeff were competitors in business, their bond in Christ superseded those barriers. After Brent and his daughter Kiersten (pictured far right) accompanied Jeff and his daughter on a trip to Ukraine in the late 90s, Brent told Jeff, “We can do this.” 

Brent believed in HOPE’s mission and enlisted his company and their trade partners to build a home to generate proceeds to benefit HOPE. This was the first of the 11 Homes for HOPE Projects the EGStoltzfus team has completed. Together, these Projects have produced over $1.4 million for HOPE’s work.  

Mike Hockenberry (pictured center left), and Brent Stoltzfus’ two daughters Maddie (pictured far left) and Kiersten were able to join us at HOPE’s corporate headquarters last week to celebrate their donation with our team. We have a tradition that when we receive a donation of $100,000 we ring a small gong, praise God, and cheer throughout the office. Maddie and Kiersten did the honors of ringing the gong for us — TWICE! 

We are so grateful for EGStoltzfus’ legacy of generosity. Please watch them share their story of deep-rooted impact below: