editor:HFH

From the heart of our newest Habitat Homeowner Heather, Veteran Bryan & Family, enjoy… 1 camper, 1 apartment, 1 trailer, 5 houses, 2 states and 11 years. This has been our journey to home ownership. A sense of stability is always something we have tried to provide for our family. We found a way to make every place feel like home as best we could, but we all knew those weren’t the places to put down our roots. Each place was called something different. “The Apartment”, “The Trailer”, “The Mount Holly House”, none of them worthy of being called “Home”.

Those walls wouldn’t hold our laughter or our memories, so each time we would pack them all up with us and move on. The thing is, I think some of them got lost along the way. I started to see changes in my family. The light in their eyes, the excitement of new possibilities, started to fade with each new address. Their desire to make friends or get into recreational activities slowly faded to none at all because deep down, they didn’t think those things would last. Staying detached meant it hurt less to leave.

After Bryan’s accident, I found myself fighting harder than ever to give my family a sense of safety and stability. The time for wishing and hoping was over, it was time to act. The day we walked in the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and we were greeted by Jack with the warmest smile, something shifted. He handed me an application but what he didn’t realize is that he was also handing me possibility and more importantly, he was handing me hope. We filled out the application and before long, we got a call to come in and start the process.

Marjorie and Denise have been absolute God send to our family. I can never thank them enough for deciding that instead of a Habitat office, Grace Place needed to be our forever home. Once the process was underway, we got to meet Denny. He has been such an integral part of making sure everything you see today, got done and got done correctly. It’s because of him and every single volunteer who came together to help our family that we are able to say after 1 year, 7 financial fitness courses, 1 first time home buyer course and over 300+ hours of working and volunteering, Grace Place is now Home. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for selflessly helping our family and welcoming us into the community as home owners .