The global movement of homes of hope has been steadily gaining life-changing traction in impacting the lives of families in poverty since 1990. To date, over 100,000 individuals have volunteered, building nearly 6,000 homes for the needy in 21 different countries.

Led by Sean Lambert, the very first house was constructed by a team from the Los Angeles chapter of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in the poor community of El Florido, a suburb of Tijuana, Mexico. Upon gifting this initial new home to an impoverished family, Lambert’s young daughter, Andrea, just three years old at the time, pointed to another family living nearby in a rusty, dilapidated bus and asked, “Daddy, are you going to build a house for the bus people too?” Moved by his daughter’s plea, the ministry to which he and Janet would subsequently dedicate their lives, Homes of Hope, was born. Shortly thereafter, the young Lambert family relocated south, launching the San Diego/Baja Mexico chapter of YWAM and its primary focus, Homes of Hope. Although originally inspired as “an offering to Jesus” by Lambert, the two or three daylong home builds themselves are open to all — anyone who has a heart to help the poor is welcome.