Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other. – Walter Elliot
Throughout her life, Anita McNutt has strived to not allow any setbacks deter her from pursuing her dreams including one of her biggest ones—owning her own home. Anita is determined to have a place that she and her three children, daughter Ariah (16) and sons Antron (10), and Arion (4) can permanently call their own, and she has worked incredibly hard in her journey to homeownership.
When she had applied to the Habitat program originally, she wasn’t accepted; but that didn’t discourage her. She buckled down, got focused, and worked diligently on repairing her credit, staying closely connected with our Homeowner Services team who helped guide her “every step of the way”. After six months of work, she reapplied and was elated to be accepted and begin the next ‘short race’ towards becoming a homeowner.
Anita is originally from Chicago and moved to Bloomington in 2004 with her godmother. She grew up moving around a lot as a child, and she has always known she wanted something different for her own kids. While their structural housing conditions currently aren’t horrible, Anita is ready to be more than “just OK” and put renting behind her by planting permanent roots for she and her family. “I know once we have a place to truly call our own and when I’m able to purchase our house things will be much better for my family,” Anita shared. “We all just want something we can call our own.”
Anita’s favorite parts of the Habitat program have been working with her budget partner and learning how to best manage her money, gaining some construction skills and confidence on the build site and, in her own words, “the true meaning of how friends can become family.” “Being part of the Habitat community,” she shares, “has taught my kids that family is not just blood, but it is who is there to love and support and lift you up the way the Habitat community has done for us.”
The McNutt family home is sponsored by Sherman and Meredith Rogers.