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Mark Ashcraft & Brenda Boos
Homeowners since August 2010
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Tina Barringer & Family
Homeowners since July 2010
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Wendy Roberson & Family
Homeowners since October 2010
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Robert Brandon & Daughter
Homeowners since June 2010
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Patricia Reid& Family
Homeowners since April 2011
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Rachel Felts & Family
Homeowner since April 2011
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Adelmo & Ana Aguilar
Homeowner since August 2011
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Martin Escalona & Family
Homeowner since August 2011
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Travis Robinson
Homeowner since August 2011
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Nakechia Allen
Homeowner since May 2011
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Darla Marr
Homeowner since August 2011
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Amanda Dent
Homeowner Since May 2011
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Corey Hamilton
Homeowner since May 2011
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Peggy Rivens
Neighborhood Revitalzation July 2011
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Armetta Cathcart
Neighborhood Revitalization July 2011
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Thank you volunteers video from a few homeowners.
Homeowner Stories
Peggy Rivens
Peggy M. Rivens was raised in the Smithville community. As an adult she moved to Charlotte and lived there for 16 years. Mrs. Rivens came back to her home town to care for her ill grandmother and uncle. Mrs. Rivens was very proud of her community and still is although many things have changed. She and her family are lifelong members of Gethsemane Baptist Church located in Davidson, NC. The church is one of the places she and her family share the talented gift from God-singing. After over 40 years of employment Mrs. Rivens retired. She was one of the first African Americans to work at Piedmont Bank that was located in Davidson. The bank’s name was later changed to First Union, then Wachovia, and now it's known as Wells Fargo. Ms. Rivens passion is to work with adults/seniors. She received her dedicated work ethics and willingness to help others from her mother Ms. Lula Bell Houston; most know her as “Mama Lou”. Ms. Houston retired from Davidson College as a laundry worker. The college later named the laundry building after Ms. Houston. Mrs. Rivens is very grateful to Grace Covenant Church and Habitat help to her with her home.
Armetta Cathcart
Armetta Cathcart has grown up in the Smithville community when route 21 was the main road to Charlotte because at that time interstate 77 hadn’t been built. She has many fond memories of growing up in Smithville. She said there’s an old African saying “It takes a village to raise a child”and she stated “Smithville was like a village where people cared about each other.
Mrs. Cathcart got married and moved from the Smithville community to New Jersey in 1977. After living in New Jersey for over 26 years she and her family returned to Smithville in 2002 to take care of father (Leonard Nelson). Mrs. Cathcart is so happy that Grace Covenant Church and Habitat are partnering together to give her home a face lift.
Monica Putnam
"I'll never be a homeowner." That thought passed through Monica Putman's mind nearly every day when she drove by the building with the cross and hammer, the Our Towns Habitat for Humanity office in Cornelius. She had never really even had a home. As a child Monica bounced from home to home between North Carolina and Florida, attending 23 different schools. In adulthood she continued moving around, eventually landing in Denver, North Carolina where she rented a 20 year old trailer with a front door she had to kick to close.
A single mother of a child with special needs, Monica was practiced at stretching her paycheck to cover rent, food and medicine. Still, owning a home seemed a distant luxury. Life had always been a struggle for Monica and there were no signs saying her future would be different.
Until 1 day there was a sign.
On that same Habitat for Humanity marquis she had passed countless times was the simple call: "Homeowners Wanted" along with the date and time of an information session. After a word of encouragement from a friend, Monica attended the meeting, turned in her application and thought, "There is no way I will be chosen."
2 weeks later she learned of her selection as a homeowner candidate. Her next thought was, "There has to be a catch." No catch, just opportunity. Habitat provided Monica with financial counseling to pay off her debt and get her credit in good standing and with homeowner classes to teach her about repairs, safety and addressing the flood of credit offers that come with new home ownership. But Monica found the most benefit in her "sweat equity" hours where she learned to build more than a house. "Working with other Habitat candidates, you are building a community while you build each other's houses," she says. "The way the build is set up, you can't be alone in a corner by yourself. You have to be in relationship."
Becoming a Habitat homeowner gave Monica more than the financial independence she thought she could never have. It released her from a daily struggle to survive and the constant strain of "waiting for the other shoe to drop." Now she has the freedom to really live. "I am very proud of Habitat for Humanity and what they do," Monica says. "They change people's lives."
Jose and Guadalupe Arriaga
Jose and Guadalupe applied for a Habitat home in July 2006. They lived in a small mobile home in Mooresville, which was not big enough for their soon to be growing family.
Strict limits on children's toys outside and limited space made it hard for their 2 girls, Nataly and Arely, to play outside.
Jose and Guadalupe were accepted as a partner family in October 2006. With the support and prayers of their church in Cornelius the Arriaga's dream of home ownership came true on September 9, 2007 when their house keys were handed to them. The Arriaga's are the 29th and final homeowners in the Mooresville Eddy Place subdivision.
The family said of their experience, "We are the Arriaga family; we would like to share with you all the happiness that gives us to have our own home and to know that our children now have their own room." "We want to give thanks most of all to the 1 who believes first and foremost in the Habitat program; God."
Shirley Clark
"I did not really have a 'home' before Habitat and could not get ahead because I was a single mom of 3.
As time went on, years of renting came and went as my kids grew up. My daughter got pregnant in the 12th grade. She was not able to take care of the baby, so as a grandmother, I stepped in and took care of him.
I started working at Davidson College in 2000. Someone came to the college and told us about housing in Davidson and suggested I apply for a Habitat house. In 2003, I put in an application.
When they called to tell me I was approved, that was the happiest day of my life. I shouted and cried and thanked God for Habitat and told Randy, my grandson, that we got us a house and we can call it home. Lowe’s sponsored my house. My job was to get my credit cleared off, work 100 hours of sweat equity and be on site each Saturday to help build. In all, I worked 244 hours!
Shirley, upon receiving her house key, said, "I thank God, and last but not least, I thank Lowe’s for my home, a home that I can afford. I sleep in peace and again I thank God because he made my dream come true. My favorite memory was the fun we had working on Saturdays with so many nice people from Lowes. My victory is starting my life over from the beginning. And this time I am happy."
Homeowner In Process Class Schedule (TBA)
Week 1: Partnership Agreement and Budgeting Goals
Week 2: Savings, Financial Goals, and Understanding Credit
Week 3: Insurance Matters
Week 4: Home Fire Safety
Week 5: SeHome Maintenance
Week 6: Last Will and Testament
Week 7: Closing and Documents
Week 8: Conflict Resolution and Party
* Topics and dates are subject to change due to speakers' availability. You will be notified in the case of a schedule change as soon as possible.
Last Updated: October 15, 2011
