June’s Journey Home

June was born in Kansas City, Kansas to parents who were traveling church workers. Although their home was technically Kansas City June was on the road with her parents sometimes up to 250 days each year. She tells stories of sleeping on top of her siblings in the back seat of her parent’s car as they drove overnight to reach different destinations. The next morning she was part the family work team with each member responsible for something that needed to be done. Although June respected her parents she craved stability and a sense of home. Thus began her journey HOME.

When June turned 21 she garnered the courage to tell her father she needed to stop the constant traveling and intended to marry someone in Nashville she had met. The marriage did not last and soon June found herself alone to raise her son William. Like so many of us June was shielded by her parents from financial discussions but felt tension in the family over financial matters. And like most of us she learned most of her financial lessons from the life of hard knocks. June persevered, kept seeking and began to walk through doors of opportunity she found.

She became a resident of a federal housing program called Hope IV. As part of the program she found decent affordable housing and was required to create a 5 year plan to move off the subsidized housing assistance she received. She created that plan which included owning her own home. With the help of Christian Community Services Inc. another community organization, June entered a program that provided matching dollars for every dollar saved and a coach to help her stay on track. She learned about financial management and with the help of the program saved $5,000 and eliminated over $10,000 in debt.

June came to us in May with a great credit score and $5,000 saved for her Home but needed aggressive work on her emergency fund. We talked and she understood the importance of planning for those unexpected life events. She liked the idea of assigning her money a job. She re-worked her budget, aggressively tracked her expenses and found more money to ramp up her emergency fund and continue paying down her debt. She completed our homebuyer education program giving her skills and confidence to make firm decisions about an affordable house for her budget. June learned how to interview realtors and lenders to help her get the best service and product for her. Today June is in the final stretch of her journey and will soon really be HOME.