Casa for a Cause breaks ground on house

On a hot June 21 morning in northeast Las Cruces, homebuilders, friends and dignitaries broke ground for the 6th Annual Casa for a Cause, formerly known as the Anniversary House, built this year by French Brothers.

The project began In 2014 to commemorate the Las Cruces Home Builders Association’s 55th anniversary. The Hakes Brothers and members of the LCHBA built a home with as many reduced expenses as possible, as several vendors provided their goods and services at cost or donated them.

Once the house was sold, profits were divided and distributed to local charities and nonprofit groups. That first year, the sale of the house was enough to put $64,000 back into the community.

Following the Hakes Brothers’ home, in 2015, Veloz Homes’ Anniversary House gave back $82,000. In 2017, the Anniversary House built by Arista Development gave back $74,000; Desert View Homes in 2019, raised $125,000; and last year in 2022, JMS Construction raised $63,000. In total, members of the LCHBA have given back $408,000 to the community and started an LCHBA Aggie Builder Endowed Scholarship at NMSU.

Jason Kipker of French Brothers was one of the speakers at the June 21 groundbreaking and said his organization has set goal of $126,000, which would break Desert View’s previous record by $1,000.

The official groundbreaking was presided by the LCHBA and the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce and included Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima.

This year’s home is at 7322 Bedford Ave., in the Metro Arcadia Phase 1 area of Metro Verde, near Red Hawk Golf Course.