“Service is the Rent You Pay for Room on This Earth” -Shirley Chisholm  

With this perspective and spirit of giving back driving her, Linda and her son Brandon (10) joined the Habitat for Humanity Homeownership Program in 2022. Though originally surprised at her acceptance, Linda’s shock quickly shifted to gratitude and inspiration.  

“There were so many people at the information meetings.” Though Linda had known about Habitat for years, she didn’t quite know how the program worked or how to qualify before attending the meeting. “I saw a flyer for the meeting, and I thought, ‘What do I have to lose?’ Brandon, from the beginning, felt very confident that we would be building our house with Habitat.”   

For Linda, this home means long-term stability and affordability for her family. “I’m not unhappy where I live, and I feel my landlord has been fair. My biggest concern is that my rent keeps increasing, understandably, but it is only going to get more unaffordable for me to live there. My Habitat house will take away a lot of my worries. I also think this is going to be a great opportunity for my son.”  

For Brandon, this home will mean finally having children in his neighborhood, easy access to a park, the long-awaited ability to adopt a cat, and the space to elevate his digital keyboard to an acoustic piano. In between Cub Scouts, competitive Rubik’s cubing, and attending community events, Brandon is a gifted pianist and has taken lessons at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in their Young Pianists program for three years.  

“You could see a musical talent in Brandon from a young age. He initially wanted to play guitar to ‘become a rockstar,’ but quickly fell in love with the piano. It is such a blessing to have a world class music school here in our backyard,” Linda shared.  

Despite the challenges of balancing work, Brandon’s schedule, and everyday life with her Habitat commitments of attending Habitat homeownership classes and earning sweat equity hours, Linda shared it was well worth it.  

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working at the ReStore. You never know what treasures you are going to see! I didn’t start out doing construction work at the beginning, because I was too intimidated. I don’t like using power tools, and I didn’t feel like I would have much to contribute. But I love it! The Crew Leaders are amazing, and they have given me so much confidence to try things I’ve never done before.   

I’ll be able to walk around our neighborhood and think ‘I put the siding on this house’ and ‘I remembering helping on the roof here.’ I just love the idea of being able to walk around my neighborhood and know that I helped build it. What an amazing opportunity,” Linda shared.  

Linda’s home was made possible by a Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) 1.0 grant awarded by the Indiana Uplands READI steering committee and Regional Opportunity Initiatives.