Enabling Families To Succeed - Habitat For Humanity
A stable living situation and peaceful home life is essential for academic success. Habitat for Humanity enables hundreds of children every year to have such stability. Because of this, many are able to grow into successful academic and professional experiences in technological and other fields.
One year ago, Hugo and Flora Aleman were forced to live — with their three children under the age of seven — in a single, crowded bedroom. The stress of life and financial obligations were mounting with no sign of light in the future.
Six years ago, Shirley Ashby was working hard to provide for herself and her children but challenge after challenge began to pile up. She had no choice but to move her small family into a rundown apartment; government assisted living. She had to drop out of school and work multiple full-time, minimum wage jobs just to provide her family with the essentials of life. The situation was almost unbearable.
Then, Shirley and Flora learned about Habitat for Humanity of Utah County.
Habitat for Humanity of Utah County has been helping to improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities for over 25 years. They have done community enhancement, critical home repair, and home beautification projects all around Utah County.
After a brief qualification process for Shirley and Flora, houses for each family began to be built. These two prospective Habitat homeowner families were able to come up with $500 for a down payment and Habitat for Humanity took care of the rest. Land and materials were purchased using generously donated funds, while the Aleman and Ashby families each contribute 350 hours of “sweat equity”, working with hundreds of other volunteers on the construction of their homes.
“I learned how to do everything from pouring cement to putting shingles on the roof, we did it all.” said Flora.
Flora learned and loved the experience so much that she has gone back to school to become a general contractor.
“The experience with Habitat for Humanity is where I learned to build a house. It was really amazing and fun for me to be a part of,” she said.
“I had no prior experience with construction,” Shirley said. “But I was onsite almost every single day learning and helping to build a home for my family. I learned so much about building and maintaining a home. Since then I’ve used these skills and built a fence and a deck for my home. I also got a really good feel for the community and what we can do for each other; there are so many people willing to help when you need it.”
Following the completion of her new home, Shirley was finally free to go back to college. She enrolled at UVU, studying internet technologies, at the age of 30. She wants to pursue her goal of becoming a web developer.
“Now I don’t have to live off the government anymore,” Shirley said. “I was able to start my own company because I didn’t need to worry about where I’d sleep each night. I can provide for myself and my family. I can even take my family on a vacation once in a while. Everything is one thousand percent easier because house payments are affordable. Everything is better!”
Living in substandard housing endangers health and safety, erodes hope and self-worth, and can impair the ability of children to succeed. For each of these families a Habitat Home has made all the difference. Because of the homes, Shirley’s and Flora’s children have been able to succeed in academics.
“Habitat for Humanity doesn’t just offer homeownership to those who would never be able to purchase a home through conventional means, it changes people’s lives,” Kena Mathews, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Utah County, said.
Habitat for Humanity of Utah County would like to thank the many donors and volunteers that have enabled this all to happen.
Habitat for Humanity of Utah County has plans to build in many communities across Utah. To find out when Habitat will be building near you, and to get involved, please contact Nancy Mickiewicz at nancym@habitatuc.org or 801–344–8527, ext. 106.
For those looking to make a difference, this month is full of opportunities to get involved. For more information, visit www.habitatuc.org.
