Interviewer: I am here with Stephanie and she is one excited lady. Would you like to tell us why you are excited?
Stephanie: I am here because I have paid off my mortgage. Yes! Yes! Yes! It is still a little surreal right now but yes, I am very excited. I have finally paid it off. It is a good feeling.
Interviewer: Tell us a little bit about your journey as a Habitat homeowner.
Stephanie: Habitat homeownership is a great partnership. I never would have ever thought of a Habitat house but for a friend of mine. My coworker, Tony, introduced me. Little did I know it would change my life. I met a lot of great people over the years. Habitat is a great organization that gives back and helps single parents. I am a single mother of one. Really to be honest with you, it is a great partnership. I also continue to volunteer. Even now when my house is done, I still want to volunteer and give back.
Interviewer: Thank you for that. Now tell us how it has changed your child’s life.
Stephanie: Oh, my child finished high school. He is doing three years of college. As of today, he is into the military. So yes that is another good reason why Mama’s getting paid off a bit early. Yes, he is going into the military. He has also seen a strong foundation going from living in apartment to living in your own home. You always want to stable environment for him and that foundation is definitely did a lot of for us. I will tell anybody. Yes, it is a great feeling to have your children in a home versus an apartment. I am not knocking it but it is more stable surroundings for us. He also saw the sacrifice I had to work to put into it.
Interviewer: So tell us what you are going to do now that you have your house paid off.
Stephanie: OK I am going to go out and have a drink – a glass of wine or something to celebrate and let it sink in! Actually, I am planning to go back to school in March or April. I am going to do a bachelor’s in computer science and hope I am going on into my master’s. It will be like a second career for me. Yeah, this is the next chapter. We get the kid out of the house. This is a new chapter. Get the debt paid up. Yeah, there is probably more debt with school but that’s OK. It is going to be a new career for me.
Interviewer: Thank you for your commitment to Habitat and congratulations on this wonderful accomplishment. It is exciting to be a part of it.