Tiny Homes for Vets Group Gets Big Donation

By Jeremy Coumbes on February 8, 2020 at 9:35am

A group that helps build homes for under privileged and homeless veterans received a major donation yesterday in Quincy. 2×4’s For Hope, who helps build tiny homes for area veterans, received a $160,000 donation from Dakota Access Pipeline LLC in a ceremony at the Dick Brothers Brewery Museum yesterday afternoon. The funding will help build 4 more tiny homes for veterans in Quincy, and help complete the funding of a partially built tiny home in the Mt. Sterling area, according to the Quincy Herald Whig.

Mark & Chris Lawrence founded the group in May 2015 as a nonprofit outreach ministry to provide lumber for charitable building projects in West Central Illinois. The idea for 2×4’s for Hope began when the Lawrences were making trips to Haiti after the earthquake in 2010. They started seeking donations from friends and family to cover the cost of 2x4s and eventually saw the idea expand. The first tiny home for a veteran was built in Quincy in September 2018. Since then, tiny homes have been built in Brown, Adams, and Morgan County. Future plans are to expand into Beardstown. 2X4s For Hope have helped donate lumber for 3 homes in Adams County. Each tiny home costs about $34,000, with all labor donated. Many of the products required for the home are either donated or acquired at a reduced cost. The veteran who moves in signs a 10-year contract and pays all property taxes associated with the fully furnished site.

Information about 2x4s for Hope is available on the group’s Facebook page or 2x4forhope.org. Those interested in donating time and/or funding to 2x4s for Hope should call the Lawrences at 217-617-8500.