Lupita and her son Daniel had a brief taste of homeownership once, many years ago. Lupita was married then and she and her husband purchased a home. Shortly after, when her marriage ‘came to a screeching halt’, as she put it, she and her son had to give up their dream.
“Daniel used to ask me to drive him by the house so he could see how the trees were growing bigger,” she said. “It broke my heart, but what could I do?”
“This is our second chance,” she said of being approved for a Habitat home. “I find this whole thing to be a godsend. I never thought I would be a recipient. I feel blessed.”
Lupita and Daniel currently rent an 80-year-old adobe house with no air conditioning. The house has special meaning to them, though. It was her ex-mother-in-law’s childhood home. They remained close with Daniel’s grandma, despite the divorce.
“She was very ill, so we’d bring her over for the weekends,” she said. “She used to tell us stories about what happened in this room or that one.”
Her family is originally from Sonora, Mexico, and she is a first generation Mexican-American.
Daniel is so excited, says Lupita; “we’ve never owned a dog and he really wants a dog.” Lupita is looking forward to having a garden area and taking advantage of the gray water option on her Habitat home.
Lupita has worked for Carondelet Health Network for 20 years and has made a family for herself there.