MARIETTA, Ga. — During the holiday season hope and joy can be seen and felt all around the Glory Haus in Marietta.
Customers line up outside the door waiting to rush inside as CEO Molly Holm stands by with excitement to greet each customer.
“We have 50,000 feet of Christ décor. We do have an event center that we rent out for the holidays,” Holm said.
The same warehouse that brings customers holiday cheer during this season is the same place Holm ultimately birthed the vision for Emmanuel’s Village.
“When my 8-year-old son said, ‘Mom, do you know someone who’s working at our warehouse is living in a car?’ it just opened my eyes,” said Holm.
Eleven years after Holm came to that realization, she is excited about the tiny home community that will be built on a lot behind her business.
The city of Marietta approved the project last year, but Holm, who raised $900,000 already, needs $800,000 more to begin construction.
“‘Tis the season to give! Our hope is that we can get these 15 families into these homes in 2026. We would love to figure out how we can have partners that would help us get $800,00 before the end of the year,” said Holm.
Holm showed Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell a prototype of about 300 square feet of space displayed in front of Holms store. The furnished tiny home is equipped with a full kitchen, small rooms for children, a master bedroom a kitchen, a full bathroom and a washer and dryer.
“Affordable housing is a big deal right now, and we just need the community to come alongside us and help house these kids that go to Marietta City Schools. We would bring families here for 12 to 18 months, and we would get them stable, help them find new jobs, help them get to a stable place that we can then help them move to permanent housing and then we would bring some more families in,” said Holm.
Holm said during her research about homeless student in Cobb County, she learned there are a little more than 530 homeless students within the Marietta City School District and more than 1,000 within the Cobb County School District.
“Our goal at Emmanuel’s Village is, how do we help high-potential, under-resourced families, not chronically unhoused families, but families that have had a situation but have potential to get their lives back on track?” she said.
“It could just be one simply even that changes someone’s life. They could have a medical issue, a loss of job. They could’ve had a sick child and couldn’t go to work, got evicted,” said Holm.
If you want to help Holm reach her $800,000 goal to begin construction, you can donate at Emmanuel’s Village and Glory Haus.
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