2022-100-Faces-Book - Flipbook - Page 58
Shawnta
Mother. Homeowner. Fighter.
Shawnta remembers the day the walls were raised.
In 2018, she created a legacy by becoming the first in
her family to own a home. As a single mom with three
kids, the road to get there wasn’t easy. It was paved
with rejection and hard work—but with a community
standing strong around her.
Shawnta heard about Habitat for Humanity in 2013
and applied. Her application was not approved; she
was turned away and given some resources to prepare
for the next time she applied. She says she got off
track and applied again in 2016. Again, her application
was declined. But with three young children, Shawnta
was adamant that she would provide them a home. At
the time, they were living in a two-bedroom, 800 square
foot duplex—the two boys in one bedroom, she and her
daughter in the other.
“I was tired of moving and repeating the same cycle
year after year,” she says. “Owning my own home
meant stability, which my kids deserve.”
She was referred to Christian Community Services, Inc.
(CCSI) to become mortgage ready.
“From the day we met Shawnta she exhibited a
beautiful, positive spirit,” says Dr. Rietta Turner, CCSI
CEO and executive director. “She wanted to establish
a better life for her children and show them that in
life it’s not how you start but it’s all about how you
finish. Shawnta was fully dedicated and never missed
a session. She eagerly received the information and
put it into practice. Shawnta was already resilient, but
we saw her grow in hope, mindset, knowledge, skills,
choices and confidence.”
Every Tuesday night, she’d show up to class
empowered that she’d soon own her own home.
“I learned so much. They gave me the foundation to
have the best financial future I could have,” Shawnta
says. “They taught me the importance of having my
finances as a behavior. If I wanted to save, I would do it
consistently so that I could develop that behavior. Not
just, ‘Oh, I’m saving because I’m in this program.’ I’m
saving because it’s the right thing to do because I have
kids and I want their future to be [the best].”
Eventually, Shawnta applied for her Habitat for
Humanity home for the third time. This time, she was
accepted. She began taking courses to prepare for
home ownership, even volunteering at the Habitat for
Humanity ReStore, helping to build others’ homes and
working with a team to construct her own home. She
learned about construction, planting seeds and being a
part of a community. Many who helped build her home
were Habitat applicants and became her neighbors.
“It’s awesome that you get to build your home and
watch it grow from week one to week four,” she says.
“You get to meet all these amazing volunteers who are
out there for you and your family.”
Most don’t get the reward of seeing their house go
from a distant dream to hammering in its first nail.
“But I remember every little step. Every piece of the
house, it’s a memory to me now. To see it up and to
be living in it, it feels amazing,” she says. “With the
program, somebody was always there to push me
along the way. There was an end goal that I was trying
to meet. Before, I didn’t really have goals. But when I
joined that program, my goals became something that
I needed to do to secure my future.”
And that future—that legacy she’s securing—is her
children. They are at the center of everything she’s
working toward, she says.
“I want them to know that it starts with them. I want
them to remain consistent and let them know that
when they set a goal, the baby steps that they’re
taking will eventually help them accomplish their goal.
Everything that they’re doing now affects their future.”
Habitat for Humanity
