“She worked up until the week she died,” Taylor Thompson, said of his mom, Maureen Thompson. “Her real passion was architecture. When she went to the office, she wasn’t Maureen with breast cancer, she was Maureen the architect.”

As an architecture student, Maureen Thompson, designed a Habitat for Humanity house that would forever change the lives of dozens of families – including her own.

When he was just 17, Taylor — who aspires to become an architect, too — was literally following in his mother’s footsteps. In honor of her memory, Taylor raised an astounding $85,000 to build a Habitat home — right around the corner from the one his mother designed.

Every Saturday, Taylor worked alongside the future homeowner, single-mother Annette Lopez, to build what will be a game-changing two-story home in Austin, Texas for Lopez and her four-year-old daughter, Isabella.

After Taylor finished the Austin home, he expanded his work with Habitat for Humanity, working alongside former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter to build homes in Memphis in 2016 and again in Edmonton earlier this year.

Now he’s raising money to sponsor a second Habitat home in Austin – this one to honor women who, like his mother, have battled breast cancer.

Taylor says “doing one thing, no matter how big or small, has the power to change the world” – we couldn’t agree more.

 

Taylor Thompson

Giving Hero of Habitat for Humanity