The Volunteering Page of kenneth reed

family and current housing
The road to homeownership has been a long, and often difficult, one for Habitat Partner Family Andrea Guzman. An army kid, she was born in Germany and moved around a lot as a child. When Andrea was eleven her mother settled the family in Puerto Rico to be close to extended family. Eventually, Andrea became a mother herself when her oldest daughter, Arianna, was born. As a toddler, Arianna showed signs of developmental delays, and doctors in Puerto Rico diagnosed her as having CMV (a virus passed to a baby in utero). As a result of the virus, Arianna struggles with health problems that may progressively get worse, such as hearing and vision problems, intellectual delays, anxiety and hyperactivity, lack of good coordination, and muscle weakness. Doctors in Puerto Rico strongly encouraged Andrea to relocate to the United States for better treatment and schooling for Arianna. Andrea chose to move to Canton because she has family nearby and her employer allowed a transfer to their Stark County offices. When first arriving in Canton, Andrea and Arianna briefly lived in a top floor apartment. However, Arianna’s anxiety and hyperactivity led to noise complaints from the renters below. She then moved to their current apartment where they have both floors to themselves. Andrea admitted that although this has helped with the noise, Arianna now struggles to climb or descend the stairs to the bedrooms or bathroom by herself because of her poor eyesight. Along with needing a one-story home, Arianna really needs her own bedroom. Currently, she and baby sister, Anaiyah, share the apartment’s second bedroom, but Anaiyah’s crying in the night startles Arianna and causes anxiety attacks. Lastly, Arianna receives in-home physical therapy and there is little to no room for this because the basement where Andrea had hoped they could do therapy is basically unusable. Andrea’s unit is at the bottom of a slope, and any time it rains, water floods into the basement. This has ruined two dryers and filled the basement with mold, peeling paint, and a constant mildew smell. The problem was “fixed,” but the next time it rained the same thing happened and her dryer was ruined again. After her company volunteered with Habitat and a co-worker shared her experience in the homeownership program, Andrea decided to apply to provide her girls with a better home environment.

a bright future
During her time in the Habitat program, Andrea has invested numerous sweat equity hours at ReStore, on worksites, and in House2Home education classes learning valuable skills regarding homeownership, maintenance, and personal and financial wellness. In addition to completing sweat equity hours, Andrea works hard to provide for her family financially. She has been employed in customer service for over five years. Soon, all her hard work will pay off and the Guzman’s will have a home that better meets Arianna’s physical needs. "I want my children to feel security and stability,” Andrea explained. “Owning our home will make all I have been through worth it and I feel proud of myself. It will bring such peace of mind knowing that my daughters will always have a home.”