Monica Putnam

"I'll never be a homeowner." That thought passed through Monica Putman's mind nearly every day when she drove by the building with the cross and hammer, the Our Towns Habitat for Humanity office in Cornelius. She had never really even had a home. As a child Monica bounced from home to home between North Carolina and Florida, attending 23 different schools. In adulthood she continued moving around, eventually landing in Denver, North Carolina where she rented a 20 year old trailer with a front door she had to kick to close.

A single mother of a child with special needs, Monice was practiced at stretching her paycheck to cover rent, food and medicine. Still, owning a home seemed a distant luxury. Life had always been a struggle for Monica and there were no signs saying her future would be different.

Until one day there was a sign.

On that same Habitat for Humanity marquis she had passed countless times was the simple call: "Homeowners Wanted" along with the date and time of an information session. After a word of encouragement from a friend, Monica attended the meeting, turned in her application and thought, "There is no way I will be chosen."

Two weeks later she learned of her selection as a homeowner candidate. Her next thought was, "There has to be a catch." No catch, just opportunity. Habitat provided Monica with financial counseling to pay off her debt and get her credit in good standing and with homeowner classes to teach her about repairs, safety and addressing the flood of credit offers that come with new home ownership. But Monica found the most benefit in her "sweat equity" hours where she learned to build more than a house. "Working with other Habitat candidates, you are building a community while you build each other's houses," she says. "The way the build is set up, you can't be alone in a corner by yourself. You have to be in relationship."

Becoming a Habitat homeowner gave Monica more than the financial independence she thought she could never have. It released her from a daily struggle to survive and the constat strain of "waiting for the other shoe to drop." Now she has the freedom to really live. "I am very proud of Habitat for Humanity and what they do," Monica says. "They change people's lives."

Jose and Guadalupe Arriaga
Jose and Guadalupe applied for a Habitat home in July 2006. They lived in a small mobile home in Mooresville, which was not big enough for their soon to be growing family.

Strict limits on children's toys outside and limited space made it hard for their two girls, Nataly and Arely, to play outside.

Jose and Guadalupe were accepted as a partner family in October 2006. With the support and prayers of their church in Cornelius they Arriaga's dream of home ownership came true on September 9, 2007 when their house keys were handed to them. The Arriaga's are the 29th and final homeowners in the Mooresville Eddy Place subdivision.

The family said of their experience, "We are the Arriaga family; we would like to share with you all the happiness that gives us to have our own home and to know that our children now have their own room." "We want to give thanks most of all to the one who believes first and foremost in the Habitat program; God."

Shirley Clark
"I did not really have a 'home' before Habitat and could not get ahead because I was a single mom of three.

As time went on, years of renting came and went as my kids grew up. My daughter got pregnant in the 12th grade. She was not able to take care of the baby, so as a grandmother, I stepped in and took care of him.

I started working at Davidson College in 2000. Someone came to the college and told us about housing in Davidson and suggested I apply for a Habitat house. In 2003, I put in an application.

When they called to tell me I was approved, that was the happiest day of my life. I shouted and cried and thanked God for Habitat and told Randy, my grandson, that we got us a house and we can call it home. Lowe’s sponsored my house. My job was to get my credit cleared off, work 100 hours of sweat equity and be on site each Saturday to help build. In all, I worked 244 hours!

Shirley receiving her house key I thank God, and last but not least, I thank Lowe’s for my home, a home that I can afford. I sleep in peace and again I thank God because he made my dream come true. My favorite memory was the fun we had working on Saturdays with so many nice people from Lowes. My victory is starting my life over from the beginning. And this time I am happy.