A New Lease on Life

The first Sunday after Glendo Hamilton moved into her new Habitat house in Jacksonville, she got up early—about 6:30 a.m.—made a cup of coffee and sat on the couch. She had just started thanking God for her blessings when she suddenly heard a beautiful bird she had never heard before. “It was like the Lord was saying, ‘Everything’s fine,’” she says. “I was looking at the walls and thinking, ‘I know what the inside of those walls looks like.’ That’s what I see when I see those walls. I see what it took to get to this point.”

It’s been a long road to homeownership for Hamilton. Four years ago, she found herself homeless as “everything just fell in” under the weight of illness and stress. Friends in her church, St. Paul’s United Methodist, helped her get back on her feet, and when they found out she had been approved for a Habitat house, they asked HabiJax executive director Frank Barker if they could sponsor it.

To avoid aggravating old injuries from a car accident in 1993, Hamilton completed her sweat-equity hours in the HabiJax office by answering phones, filing and working on mailings.

“HabiJax worked with me to get my hours,” she says. “It took a year and half, but I got there. And that just goes to prove anybody can do it.”

Now that the building is done, Hamilton’s house is rapidly becoming a home. When her cat, Bubba, investigated the yard for the first time, Hamilton says he immediately started purring, and “you could just tell he likes it.” Her lovingly planted azaleas and gardenias promise a colorful spring.

“It’s like, ‘Wow, I don’t have to be ashamed of where I live,’” she says. “I’m going to live the rest of my life out in a wonderful home. From this point on, it’s all up.”


--Rebekah Graydon





Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, December 2000/January 2001.
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©2000 Habitat for Humanity International