Meet Our Homeowners!

Meet the Le Family: Viem, Tuyet and Tiem

Brief Background
Viem Le and Tuyet Tran immigrated from Vietnam in September 1994 for political asylum after spending time in a re-education camp. Viem and Tuyet are married with a 17-year-old son, Tiem, who is a good student at Interlake High School and plays on the basketball team. Tiem's 72-year-old Grandmother also lives with the family. The Le Family has 2 grown children and 5 grandchildren who live in the area.

Housing Need
Viem and Tuyet lived in an apartment where the costs of rent and utilities comprised more than 50% of their income.

Employment Information
Viem has worked in maintenance for an assisted living housing development for more than 5 years. He is described as an excellent worker and great addition to the maintenance team. His supervisor says Viem shows great compassion and a genuine caring for our residents. Viem experienced an accident at work when a sheet of plywood fell on him resulting in a broken leg. This accident disabled Viem for several months. Tuyet is employed on an on-call basis for a Temporary Employment Agency. After school, Tiem works at the same assisted living center as his father in Food Service for three hours each evening.

New Home at Overlake Park Townhomes
The Les moved into their new home, a two-bedroom townhouse at Overlake Park, in 2005. Their home is within walking distance to work for Viem and also Tiem's high school.

Meet the Suyama Family: Karen, Nicole, Jagger and Jettoa

Brief Background
Karen grew up in Seattle's Japanese community with her adopted parents, attending Japanese language school and graduating from Kennedy High School.  When she was 17 she learned that her birth mother was part Inupiaq, an Eskimo tribe that lives north of the Arctic Circle.  She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Washington in 2006 with certification in Restoration Ecology, and is a single mother to daughter Nicole (16), and sons Jagger (11) and Jettoa (9).

Housing Need
The family was living in a subsidized King County Housing apartment where Nicole was sharing a bedroom with her two brothers.  Karen went through a difficult period when the kids were young, and for a time Nicole and Jagger lived with their grandmother in Singapore.  Karen has worked hard as a single mother to keep her family together and raise her children. 

Activities
The entire family is quite active with the Native American community. They carved an 8- person canoe out of a log at Seattle's Wooden Boat Center with plans to paddle it to a Native American festival.  Karen's involvement with the Native American Community on the Tribal Road has given her life significant purpose and direction. She volunteers as a leader with the Red Eagle Soaring organization, and the children are involved with the performing arts group. Nicole is an accomplished vocalist and was the first sophomore invited to join the jazz choir at Juanita High School, which she attends. She went on a four-day kayak trip this summer when she and her brothers attended Camp Orkila on Orcas Island, the first time they were able to go to summer camp.

Employment Information
Karen is the Environmental Planning Manager with the Snoqualmie Tribe, where she has a project at the North Bend casino site as well as on the reservation in Snoqualmie. A co-worker put a flyer about an upcoming Habitat for Humanity Family Selection Information meeting on her desk, simply because she saw the word habitat and figured this would interest Karen. It certainly did. She attended the meeting and was selected in May 2007 to become a new homeowner.

New Home at Koinonia Ridge
The Suyama's new 3-bedroom house in Snoqualmie was dedicated in December 2007. The house was sponsored by a grant through the Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity program.

Meet the Friday Family: Steve, Joshua, Brian and Misty

Brief Background
Steve Friday is the proud father of three children: Joshua (14), Brian (12) and Misty (10). Steve has been a North Bend resident for over 35 years and looked forward to owning a home in the community he loves.

Housing Need
The family resided in a home that was drafty and poorly insulated. Just off the Redmond and Fall City highway, its location near a busy highway made it a loud and dangerous place to live. As Steve put it, the family was looking forward to a real family home.

Employment Information
Steve has worked for the Nestle company in Carnation for nearly 25 years despite company lay-offs and mergers over that time. Currently the head of maintenance and security, Steve manages a crew of two. His day starts at 4am in order to prepare for the meetings and functions of his colleagues at Nestle.

Activities
As a family, the Fridays love to hunt, fish, play board games and spend time with their black Labrador retriever. Joshua loves music. He sings in the Jazz Choir at Mt. Si High School and plays the guitar. On the Habitat work site, Josh worked on the Snoqualmie Ridge Community Center installing insulation. Brian also attends Mt. Si High School and has played flute for the past 5 years. Misty attends Chief Kanim Middle School and is very involved with extracurricular activities. Misty loves gymnastics especially the parallel bars and plays flute and violin. A 3.65 grade point student, Misty is also a school crossing guard, plays softball and sings in the choir. Misty attends High Point Trinity Evangelical Church with her grandmother. Steve is a master gardener and used his expertise to perform irrigation and drainage work at the Patterson Park construction site as part of his family's 500 hours of sweat equity.

New Home at Koinonia Ridge
Steve and his family were selected to purchase a 3-bedroom home in the Koinonia Ridge development, and moved into their new home in January 2007.  Living in the Snoqualmie community has allowed all three of the Friday kids to remain in their current schools.

Habitat for Humanity of East King County selects prospective homeowners in accordance with non-discriminatory policies as established by the Fair Housing Act.