Brooke was accepted into Habitat’s homeownership program in the summer of 2021. Since then, she and her son Amari have put in over 300 volunteer hours. Brooke is a single mother of five, four of whom still live at home, Amari age 18, Cavalier age 16, Xaivien, age 10, and Elayna age seven. The family currently lives in a three-bedroom mobile home. Their home is drafty, the roof leaks, they do not have enough space, and the cost of rent is too high. She also has had attempted break-ins at their home.

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Brooke works for Alick’s Home Medical, preparing orders for home deliveries. She first learned about Habitat’s program through a friend who purchased her Habitat home a few years ago. When Brooke was first accepted into the program, she was so excited, “it felt like a dream was coming true.”

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No one in Brooke’s family has ever owned a home before, and she didn’t think it was possible for her. She talked about what she has learned from the required homeownership and financial classes, “I was never taught to look at my credit scores or how much they mattered.” Since taking the classes, she has kept track of her money and has money directly deposited into a separate savings account. Brooke is currently saving for her downpayment.

She expects that owning a home will change the lives of her and her children and allow her to spend more time with her family. She hopes she can afford things like taking them to a theme park.  Her two older children had these experiences with their grandparents, but the younger ones have not.  She wants them to have more life experiences, and having a stable, affordable mortgage means she can save money to take them places and experience life.  

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Brooke tells everyone she meets about Habitat’s program, telling them, “Focus and do not give up.”

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