Stephanie Martin has lived in is an East Central Illinois all her life. She was born in Danville and moved to Champaign prior to starting school. She graduated from Urbana High School and started her career at Mr. John’s Beauty School. She has worked for various salons over the past 13 years and hopes to maybe own of her own someday! She has two young children Kam’ron and Kaliyah Martin who will both be attending Prairie School in the dual language program; learning both Spanish and English.
“I found out about Habitat through some friends of mine who are homeowners, and I decided that I would try to continue my “housing evolution” with Habitat. I had set a goal that I would move my family from an apartment, to a duplex, and finally into a home of our own. This opportunity with Habitat will be an amazing end a dream for our family.
“I try to instill a sense of respect for any environment we have lived in-whether it was an apartment, our current duplex, and now a home of our own. My kids are excited to be able to be play in the yard, sleep in their own bedrooms, and have their own place to play with our new puppy. Not having a yard is really hard for young kids–they need a place to go outside and run some of their energy off. I am looking forward to entertaining and having people over to our home. We always had to spend holidays at our relatives; and now they can come enjoy the holidays with us!
Stephanie is also very connected to her New Life Church. I know once I tell my pastor about this opportunity they will all come on board to help me build it! It is a very supportive and giving church family, and I know we will all grow from this experience together.
Finally Stephanie says, “I have a high appreciation for this opportunity and I will be working hard to help my children understand this amazing experience and find ways for us to give back to others as they grow up in our new home. I want them to be able to pass along some of this good fortune to others.”