| Volunteers are superheroes to Mobile area family |
|
|
|
|
Less then a year after the birth of Sierra, their fifth child, Ashley and Ian lost their apartment. “Our landlord wouldn’t renew the lease because he said there were too many people living in the apartment,” said Ian. The couple’s five children include: Dorian, 8; Elysa, 7; Jordan, 6; Avery, 2; and Sierra, 10 months. The couple received the same reaction from other landlords throughout Mobile County. After Hurricane Katrina, rental vacancies were scarce, and the few available apartments came with a steep price tag. The family searched for two months, and then eventually moved in with Ashley’s father. The families share a small house with one bathroom between nine people. “We tried a bathroom schedule. But bathroom schedules don’t work with kids because they forget their turn,” added Ashley. Ashley and Ian decided to apply for a Habitat home. “We were getting desperate. I was looking at moving my family into a tent. We were running out of options,” said Ian. Happily, the couple qualified, were accepted into the program, and began immediately to work on their sweat equity hours. They are moving into a Mobile County development where Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity recently built four homes as part of their Operation Home Delivery program. “Working with the Twin Cities crew has been completely amazing. They are our heroes. Growing up as a kid, you have your superheroes like Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. But honestly, these volunteers are the true superheroes,” said Ian. “What they did for us by building this house has been a life changing experience.” The family can’t wait to move into the Habitat home that will offer them a source of stability on many levels. “We’re sure to finish college now because we are not stressing about where we are going to live with our family, and what we’re going to do with our kids,” said Ashley. Ian works full-time and attends college full-time as a pre-med student. Not only is Ashley a stay-at-home mom of five, but she’s also a pre-law student. “Most importantly, this house means a stable place to call home for our kids. We’re not moving them from apartment to apartment,” said Ian. “We feel truly blessed to have people like the Twin Cities volunteers that were willing to give up their time, and come down here. We are so very thankful.”
Contributed by Sharon Rolenc |
