Raquel always dreamed of having a home of her own, but for a long time, fear and doubt held her back. \"It took me three years to build the courage just to sign up,\" she said. \u201cI had to push myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Raquel, the road to homeownership wasn\u2019t easy, but it was filled with purpose. She knew that the only way she\u2019d achieve her dream was through hard work. \u201cIf you\u2019re not working towards it, you\u2019re not going to get the thing that you hope to have,\u201d she said. \u201cHaving a home through Iowa Heartland Habitat is something I knew I had to work for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raquel\u2019s motivation was her son, Stephen. \u201cHe is my pride and joy,\u201d she said. \u201cEverything I do is for him. He helps me be a better mom and a better person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen drew a picture, and it showed a house with a note that read: Thank you for building our house. We really need this<\/em>. The picture was laminated and used as daily inspiration. The volunteers would look at it each day and remind themselves, \u201cThis is who we are building for.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Before receiving the keys to her new home, Raquel accomplished a remarkable list of goals. She paid off her debt, bought a car, and graduated from college\u2014all while working through the homeownership program. \u201cI never thought I would have a home like this,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a dream come true, and I worked hard for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that her dream has come true, Raquel isn\u2019t done giving back. \u201cI\u2019ve learned that there are so many people who are blessed in this process,\u201d she said. Even though she\u2019s already moved in, she plans to keep volunteering. \u201cI believe in this program so much, and I want people to see the greatness in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Raquel always dreamed of having a home of her own, but for a long time, fear and doubt held her back. \"It took me three years to build the courage just to sign up,\" she said. \u201cI had to push myself.\u201d For Raquel, the road to homeownership wasn\u2019t easy, but it was filled with purpose. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1720,"template":"","page-location":[196],"story-type":[209],"class_list":["post-1719","featured-story","type-featured-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","page-location-stories-of-impact","story-type-homeownership"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildhabitat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured-story\/1719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildhabitat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured-story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildhabitat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/featured-story"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildhabitat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildhabitat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"page-location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildhabitat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page-location?post=1719"},{"taxonomy":"story-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildhabitat.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story-type?post=1719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}