Andrey Nesbitt spent her early childhood years in Champaign-Urbana before moving to Chicago at age 8. In 2010, Andrey made the decision to move back to Champaign-Urbana, in the hopes of providing more opportunities for her now 16 year-old daughter, who Andrey refers to as “her heart.” Of Champaign-Urbana, Andrey says “Moving here for my daughter was the best thing because she has more freedom and there are things here that I can give her that I wasn’t able to in Chicago. It’s different here, than Chicago, and I love it.”
Andrey currently works for both the Champaign-Urbana MTD and CVS Pharmacy and whatever free time she does have is usually spent cleaning, spending time with her beloved grandmother, and watching Denzel Washington movies. Andrey would love to return to school someday and study criminal justice.
Andrey heard of Habitat for Humanity from her aunt, who encouraged her to apply. The first time she applied for the program her credit was not strong enough to be approved. Andrey made the decision to work 3 jobs in order to pay off some debt and improve her credit score. The hard work paid off as she was accepted into the program upon reapplying.
Andrey has enjoyed her time volunteering at the ReStore, where she has been a rock star at organizing and cleaning everything, and at Habitat’s holiday gift-wrapping fundraiser at the Marketplace Mall. She is also looking forward to taking classes on home ownership and learning how to help build her own home!
“The reality that I am going to own something and that hard work pays off eventually…..I smile every day when I volunteer (at the ReStore) because I really wanted this and this experience has really humbled me a lot. Just be patient, things will come and they will work out for you. I am meeting different people, which I love. And it is preparing me for the reality that is coming true. It has been so long, working towards this, and to be able to do this before she (Andrey’s daughter) goes off to college, is really a plus. She will get her own room and doing the house the way we want to, having it ours….it is exciting. And especially for her, it is teaching her that hard work pays off. You have to put the work into it, for something that you really want and this is something that I really want and something that I can pass onto her.”