Healthy Living Newsletter
Dreams Do Come True
Southside Family Finds Home Ownership Opportunities on Port Huron’s
Opening the door on a new adventure in home ownership, Stacy Hooper of Port Huron and her family have spent over a year making their dreams come true on Port Huron’s Southside.
The adventure started when Mercy Hospital announced it was partnering with Acheson Foundation and Citizens First Foundation to offer home ownership opportunities to Mercy Hospital employees through home down payment grants.
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| The Hooper home, located in one of the neighborhoods around Mercy Hospital, was the product of a lot of hard work; and a great deal of ingenuity. To help make their home ownership dreams a reality, the Hoopers (including: Stacy, Ondrea and Robert pictured above) took advantage of a home ownership down payment grant program offered to Mercy Hospital employees. The grants were provided through a partnership with Acheson Foundation and Citizens First Foundation to help revitalize Port Huron’s Southside. |
At the time, Stacy took advantage of the opportunity and applied for a grant to purchase a home for her family just blocks away from the Mercy Hospital campus.
“I was so excited to hear about this opportunity,” says Stacy, a Monitor Technician on the hospital’s Progressive Care Unit, who has been with Mercy for nearly three years. “I knew it was the right thing for me and my family.”
Stacy and her family received $5,000 in combined grants to purchase their dream home in early 2006 and spent the better part of mid-February moving in. “Well, almost a dream home,” Stacy says with a grin. “My son Robert wants a bigger back yard.”
In the year that followed, Stacy and her husband, Ondrea experienced a number of the challenges home ownership brings, including drafty windows and doors, lack of insulation and the overall beautification of their property. To their delight, both the City of Port Huron and Citizens First Foundation continued to be on their team.
Shortly after the purchase of their home, they were contacted about the availability of additional grant funding to upgrade and renovate privately owned homes on Port Huron’s Southside. “It was a part of the Port Huron Revitalization Project,” continues Stacy, “and in total we received $20,000 in grant money.”
Stacy and her family used the funding to purchase new doors and windows, construct an enclosed back porch, better insulate the structure, replace the front porch railing and even purchase an insert for the fireplace.
With the addition of their own funding they also bought new vinyl siding and had the house painted.
“It’s been a very busy year for us, but we’ve learned a lot,” continues Stacy. “We’ve met a lot of challenges along the way.”
Owning and maintaining a home can be a daunting task, couple that with full-time secondary education for Stacy at Baker College; raising an active son; and full-time work for both Stacy and Ondrea; and you’ve got one very active family.
How the Program Works
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| Opening the door to home ownership, Stacy Hooper (pictured above in winter 2006) has spent over a year making her new home a dream on Port Huron’s Southside. |
“Since its inception over a year ago, seven Mercy Hospital employees have applied for and been approved to receive grant money for the purchase of a home,” comments Rob Gunn, Vice President of Human Resources and the projects administrator at Mercy Hospital. “We’re eager to hear about these individual purchases.”
Currently, down payment and home improvement grants of up to $5,000 are available to Mercy employees with a total combined income below $69,800. Employees who wish to participate must plan to purchase an owner-occupied home within established neighborhoods around Mercy Hospital; must be an employee for at least one year; and must meet lender requirements.
“Many of the grant stipulations also require that the purchaser maintain ownership for five years,” continues Rob. “A number of banks that participate in the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) are working in concert with Mercy to offer lending opportunities.
“We are dedicated to the revitalization of Port Huron’s Southside, and since this program began, the project has made great strides,” continues Rob. “We are extremely fortunate to find partners in Acheson Foundation and Citizens First Foundation for this project.
“Working with community partners to provide outstanding programs and services is part of the Mercy mission,” Rob concludes.
For the Hoopers, work around their home continues. “We’re looking forward to updating the decor,” continues Stacy. “Robert is looking forward to a bedroom decorated with a cowboy theme, and Ondrea has plans to finish the basement to provide a rec room for the family.
“I’m so thankful to everyone who has helped make our dream a reality,” concludes Stacy. “You don’t know what this means to me and my family.” |
