A Habitat for Humanity of Marion County groundbreaking was held for Meredith Clark in Knoxville on Tuesday night.

Family and Habitat staff came out to the event to break ground of the new home while Pastor Doug Brady prayed a blessing over the property. This new home build which is at the former site of East Elementary will be one of two Habitat for Humanity home builds in Knoxville this year. The new home will be built by students at Knoxville High School and is expected to be completed by the end of the 2025-2026 school year. 

Habitat for Humanity has a mission where everyone has a safe and affordable place to live. The organization carries this mission by building new homes and through their critical home repair program. The new home owners are required to put in 300 or more hours of sweat equity into the project. Amy Meyer with Habitat for Humanity of Marion County says the groundbreaking ceremonies are a special day in the process.

“It’s a great day when we have selected a family, they know where they’re going to live, and we just really want to bless the ground and bless the whole process because we want to keep people safe. There are going to be a lot of hands on this house so it’s just a day where we celebrate the beginning of the process. The home celebration is fun too and seeing it all come together but it’s crazy that in nine months there will be a house standing right here.”

Meredith is the community service officer for the Knoxville Police Department.