Skip Navigation

News and Events

Press Releases

Pepperdine Dedicates Habitat for Humanity House  

Pierre's Place

Pepperdine University, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Ventura County, has finished construction on an Oxnard home called Pierre's Place. The house was built with the support of a grant from the Wood-Claeyssens Foundation, named to honor the life of Pierre Claeyssens, former Pepperdine Seaver College board member and founder of the Wood-Claeyssens Foundation. 

The house dedication event took place on Mar. 31 and many people in the Pepperdine community attended the special event for the chance to meet the Saravia family who will live in the house, and to recognize the donors who made the build possible.

Noe and Eva Saravia will move into the home with their 16-year-old twin sons, Henry and Irwin. Farm workers, the Saravias started their family in a converted garage, split into a one-bedroom with a bathroom and kitchenette. The plumbing leaked, there was no heat, and the garage section of the house was susceptible to rats and spiders. The family spent more than a decade there. In 2004, Noe and Eva were selected as one of six families to become Habitat homeowners at the Villa Cesar Chavez development in Oxnard. Since being chosen, the family has worked tirelessly to dig trenches, haul lumber, and help the other five families become homeowners.

Construction of Pierre's Place began on Sept. 23, 2006. Numerous volunteers have helped build the house, including up to 100 Pepperdine advancement and public affairs employees who traded their annual Christmas luncheon for the opportunity to help build the Saravia family's new home.

Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian ministry dedicated to eliminating substandard and poverty housing. With donated land and volunteer labor, Habitat partners with low-income families to build homes using the principle of “sweat equity” at no profit and with no interest loans. As a part of their outreach, Habitat volunteers also repair existing homes for families, the elderly, and the handicapped.