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Lisa Fuller applied for a Habitat home in the
past, but she had not been accepted to partner. "They wouldn't
give up on me, though," Lisa says. Staff at Saginaw Habitat
for Humanity, Saginaw, Mich, helped Lisa get her credit in order
and encouraged her to reapply.
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... hugging all my kids and saying, 'We're
getting a house! We're getting a house!'"
"Habitat wouldn’t give up
on me"
There's no doubt that family is important to Lisa Fuller. Almost
every evening, she says, extended family members gather at her current
house, even though it's small and crowded even for her and her five
children: Donte, 14; Maria and Mariah, 13-year-old twins; Mandrell,
11; and Leshonda, 9.
The three girls share a room, though Leshonda often ends up in
Lisa's room, Lisa explains. The boys share the third bedroom. "But
we need some more space," Lisa says. "My girls are becoming
young women; Donte's becoming a young man—they need some privacy."
Lisa thinks that having a little more space will ultimately bring
them all closer together as a family. "My family deserves this,"
she says, "and I know that with the six of us working together,
we can do it."
Lisa had applied for a Habitat home before, but she had not been
accepted to partner. "They wouldn't give up on me, though,"
Lisa says. Staff at Saginaw Habitat for Humanity helped Lisa get
her credit in order and encouraged her to reapply. One night she
got a phone call: She was accepted to partner during the June 2005
blitz build.
"I just went to screaming," Lisa laughs. "I got
up and ran through the house yelling, 'Thank you, Jesus!' and hugging
all my kids and saying, 'We're getting a house! We're getting a
house!'"
 Lisa's
new Habitat home will be just a few blocks from her current rental
house in East Saginaw in an area known as the Cathedral District.
"A lot of people don't want to be here," Lisa says, "but
we've got a lot of good things going on over here, a lot of good
assets—it's just a matter of bringing them out."
She believes the Saginaw blitz, in coordination with the Jimmy
Carter Work Project, will "put life back in the neighborhood."
She hopes the block of new homes will inspire existing homeowners
to take better care of their own homes.
"I can't wait," Lisa says. "It's going to change
things."
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