- September 20, 2024
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Leticia Garner cuts the ribbon on her new home. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Flagler Habitat for Humanity construction manager John Knox presents Leticia Garner with a golden hammer. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Leticia Garner opens the door to her new home and a new life. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Friends Melissa Rodriguez and Joan Findley with Leticia Garner, right, and godchildren Brian, Abigail, Rosalie and Isabella in Leticia's new backyard. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Leticia Garner has always wanted to be a foster parent. Now that she owns her own home, her dream is on the way to becoming a reality.
She is scheduled to begin her foster parent training on June 2, six days after she cut the ribbon on her Palm Coast home, made possible through Flagler Habitat for Humanity.
"I don't think it can be any better than to start the weekend this way," Flagler Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Lindsay Elliott said to open the home dedication on May 27.
Holding her Shih Tzu mix, Georgie, and surrounded by her friends and four godchildren — Brian, Abigail, Rosalie and Isabella — Garner cut the pink ribbon and entered the new house for the first time as a homeowner.
"She is awesome," Elliott said. "Just a ball of energy."
The process took over two years of perseverance.
"It would have been so easy to give up, but I didn't," Garner said after Flagler Habitat for Humanity construction manager John Knox presented her with a gold hammer, friend Joan Findley presented her with a bible and Yolanda Boone performed a house blessing.
Garner didn't get selected the first time she applied to Habitat for Humanity. After paying off her car loan and school loan, she applied again and was selected. But that was about the time when the pandemic hit and home construction came to a halt.
She ended up doing a lot of her 250 sweat equity hours at Habitat's Palm Coast ReStore. Last August, she spent two weeks in the hospital with COVID and then she was on 24 hours of oxygen for a few months after that, she said. A car accident set her back further.
"I recovered just in time to start building," Garner said.
To be eligible for a Habitat for Humanity home, applicants must put in 250 hours of sweat equity. The first 150 is helping build other partner families' homes and doing homeowner training. Garner took nine week-long classes covering such things as hurricane preparedness, fire safety, code enforcement, home care and repair, homeowner's insurance and mortgages.
"We try to set them up as much as possible to be successful," said Elliott, who has been with Habitat for Humanity for 21 years, the past 16 in Flagler County. "Habitat becomes a family. We're able to help them through the process. We're a social service, a construction company, and we become their mortgage company."
The last 100 hours of sweat equity are spent helping build your own home. Normally a 16-week process, Garner's home took six months to build because of material shortages.
Garner originally heard about Habitat for Humanity through her friend, Melissa Rodriguez, who went to an orientation but didn't qualify.
"She came back and said, 'Leticia, I think this is for you.' She planted the seed. But it took me a year to take action."
Garner works at Epic Behavioral Healthcare as a substance abuse peer recovery specialist.
"They ask you, what does owning a home mean to you? To me, it means freedom, not being rent broke anymore."
LETICIA GARNER
"I help people who need help with substance abuse. I'm there to listen," she said. "I've been in recovery myself for eight years."
She is four credits short of earning her bachelor's degree. She is active at Calvary Christian Center Palm Coast, serving with Boone in Calvary Kids. Georgie is a rescue dog, but Garner says they rescued each other.
With a 20-year no-interest loan through Habitat, her mortgage payments with escrow for her three-bedroom, two-bath home will be just under $700, Elliott said. Garner had been paying 1,350 in rent for a one bedroom apartment.
To be a foster parent, each child has to have their own room. Now, Garner meets that requirement. She also has a yard that Georgie and the kids can run around in.
"They ask you, what does owning a home mean to you?" she said of Habitat. "To me, it means freedom, not being rent broke anymore, where most of your salary goes to rent."
She said she was surprised that a single person could qualify for a Habitat for Humanity home. But after helping people in recovery, serving in her church, signing up to be a foster parent and rescuing Georgie, it was finally Garner's opportunity to be rescued.
