Young Mother Receives New Home from SMART

Today, a young mother of two small children is the beneficiary of a new wooden home after two organizations teamed up to come to her aid. Francisca Hower had been meaning to expand her dwelling on Antelope Street Extension, but that dream was far from reality. Then Hurricane Lisa set her back further. But SMART and Hand In Hand Ministries teamed up and when we stopped by today, they were literally there helping to put up a new wooden home for Hower and her children. We spoke with all parties concerned.

Adelaide Sabido

Adelaide Sabido, Marketing Supervisor, SMART

“We are celebrating our eighteenth anniversary on March twenty-ninth of this year so in November we decided to partner with Hand in Hand Ministries and build a home for a SMART customer that needs it especially after Hurricane Lisa, so we launched a little bit after Hurricane Lisa the application process and it was a very tough job to select one person. We had four recipients that were deserving of the house, based on the stipulations by Hand in Hand Ministries’ program, so we visited those four families, we interviewed them, we looked at a needs-based assessment and we selected after several hours, Ms Francisca Hower and she received the house you see being built here today.”

Maggie Vargas

Maggie Vargas, Development Director, Hand in Hand Ministries

“We find the people, the people come to us, they go through a process and once they come through the process from doing the application and we vetting the client to ensure to ensure that it’s a person that needs our help and then with that process, those are the persons that we would put out to SMART and they would decide who they will build for. It was a process, and I’m sure for SMART it was a bit difficult, having to choose one because they saw the needs that the others had. All the others that they visited will get a home from us because they have been vetted already, but it was just a matter for them to choose who they wanted to build for.”

Francisca Hower

Francisca Hower, Home recipient

“I just needed more space. I have two kids, and they’re – you could say just to have space for them to be comfortable. I saw the advertisement, went through the application process, did the interview, they came, did another assessment, and after doing the assessment sitting down, having the meeting, they came and said that we got accepted into the program.”

Marion Ali

“Okay. I’m sure you’re happy.”

Francisca Hower

“Yes, I am excited.”