Sargento and Milwaukee Habitat Celebrate 40th Sponsored Home with a “Family Reunion”

Sargento and Milwaukee Habitat Celebrate 40th Sponsored Home with a “Family Reunion”

On July 23, Sargento and Milwaukee Habitat celebrated a major milestone: the 40th and 41st Sargento-sponsored Habitat homes.

In a heartwarming event that felt more like a family reunion, past, present, and future Habitat homeowners gathered in the Harambee neighborhood to celebrate the decades-long commitment Sargento made to affordable homeownership.

Tondra, who purchased and moved into Sargento’s first sponsored Habitat home in 1992, was among those at the celebration.

“I only had one child when I got the house. Shortly after, I had that lady right there,” Tondra said as she pointed to her daughter. “She was born in that house and raised in that house. She, to this day says, ‘I never moved, not one time in my life.’ She’s astonished that she stayed in one place her whole life. Owning a home after you’ve been in apartment is so incredible. You have pride, you have a sense of I can do what I want.”

*Tondra and family at her home closing in 1992*

Also in attendance was the newest Sargento-Habitat homeowner, Theresa, who will move into the 40th Sargento-sponsored home next year.

“I can lay down at night and say ‘thank you lord’,” said Theresa. “I have a home where I put work into and its mine.”

*Future homeowner Theresa and her grandson*

Sargento employees, including CEO Louie Gentine, helped frame two new homes alongside volunteers, future homeowners, and community partners. Milwaukee Habitat CEO Brian Sonderman and Bucks and Fiserv Forum President Peter Feigin also celebrated the milestone.

“This was more than a build day — it was a celebration of the families, employees, and community that make this partnership so powerful,” said Milwaukee Habitat CEO Brian Sonderman. “Sargento’s impact goes beyond dollars or volunteer hours — they’ve helped 40 families build equity and stability.”

Since becoming Milwaukee Habitat’s first corporate sponsor in 1992, Sargento has helped transform lives through financial support, volunteer labor, and innovative programs like the Bucks’ Tipoff for Homes campaign, which has donated $213k since the program started in 2019.

During the event, Tonya, a Sargento-Habitat homeowner from 1998, thanked Louie Gentine with flowers, and told him:

“I started out with Habitat and Sargento sponsoring my home in 1998, so I’ve been in my home 27 years. It has been such an amazing experience. I feel myself getting teary eyed here,” Tonya said as tears formed in her eyes. “The great thing is that I was just a kid trying to purchase a home because I knew it was important to provide for my kids. So with you guys sponsoring my home, Habitat gave me that opportunity to have a three-bedroom home…Without that grace that God gave to Sargento to sponsor my home, well I wouldn’t have it any other way. I just wanted to say thank you.”

As new walls rose in Harambee, the event stood as a testament to what’s possible when businesses invest in families, and how a home can be the beginning of a lifelong community.