LINCOLN PARK, Mich. – Ira Harris and her children were living with family in Detroit but needed a place to call their own.
She heard about Habitat for Humanity in Detroit.
"I heard it on the news, Channel 4 (WDIV), and I looked it up and I fit all the requirements, so why not?" she said.
But it wouldn't be easy. Ground was broken on the home in Lincoln Park last fall, then the organization hit money issues and needed a financial rehab of its own.
"(We had) a number of houses where we stopped, including this one. In the spring time we were able to put people back to work, resume constructions, getting them finished and getting them into the hands of people like Ira," said Ken Cockrel Jr., executive director of Habitat for Humanity Detroit.
The gorgeous home wasn't just given to Ira. She earned it.
“It’s not a handout. It’s a hand up. I had to work for what I got. I helped with the labor, classes for finances, I paid a deposit like any other normal homeowner," she said.
And now the family of three is finally home for the holidays.
“May the Lord bless this house, keep it and protect it and all those who dwell in it, Amen," the family prays.
More information: HabitatDetroit.org