When Ashley saw houses in Cedar Valley being built by Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity, it intrigued her. She watched the neighborhood transform and the joy on the faces of new homeowners.

Ashley was sorting through old paperwork one day when she found an application for the homeownership program that she had started back in 2009, and it was only three-quarters of the way filled out. She thought she wasn’t ready to be a homeowner then. She had goals that she wanted to accomplish first, like building her credit and getting her finances in order. She wanted to feel confident she could take on the responsibility of homeownership. However, when Ashley found that old application, it reminded her that she had a dream of owning her own home, and she would not give up on that dream. She finished her application and got her name on the waiting list. 

When Ashley got the call that she had been accepted into the program, she was overwhelmed with emotion, but also uncertainty. She had just undergone knee surgery, and the thought of completing the required sweat equity hours seemed daunting. But once she recovered, there was no stopping her.

Her excitement built with each milestone. Hitting her first 100 hours was unforgettable because that’s when she got to choose her future home. When she saw the house at 921 W 2nd, she just knew. “This is it.”

From that moment on, Ashley made it her mission to check on the house regularly, walking through it every chance she got. She watched as construction site supervisors and volunteers brought the home back to life. “Man, this is going to be mine,” she would think as she stood in the unfinished rooms, imagining where her furniture would go, where her family would laugh and live.

Though the house had once been marked condemned, Ashley never saw it that way. “Habitat did a miracle with this house,” she said. It was more than a roof and four walls—it was her future.

Ashley now stands on the porch of her fully renovated home, her favorite spot in the whole house. With a new home, a new grandbaby, and a new job, she feels nothing but gratitude. “There is hope—for single parents, for married couples—you can get a home through Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity.”