SC Habitat Homeowner Pays Off Mortgage in 19 Years!

JONESBORO, GA (August 20, 2015) – Marcy Cly, a single mother with a one year old daughter applied for Habitat’s homeownership program in 1996.  She had a low paying job at a Child Development Center, a car, but no place to live.  Marcy is a veteran, but did not have a college degree that could help her obtain a higher paying job.

Marcy heard about Habitat while staying at a homeless shelter.  She realized that she could benefit from the program herself while telling a co-worker about it.  The Habitat application workshop that she attended had about 50 people in attendance.  When Marcy was one of the families selected, she knew that things would be different.  “From that point on, my life had changed.  I felt like it empowered me and enabled me to live a normal life,” said Marcy.

Marcy remembers it being difficult because she was working full time and relying on her sister to help watch her daughter.  She had to work her job as well as complete required Habitat education classes and 250 hours building her home.  Marcy said “it’s not given to you”, but the end result is worth it.  Thanks to the generous sponsorship from Target in 1996, Marcy went from being homeless and living with her sister to having a home to call her own where she could raise her daughter.

On August 18, 2015, 19 years later, Southern Crescent Habitat proudly honored Marcy’s accomplishment with a mortgage payoff celebration.  CEO of Southern Crescent Habitat, Kem Kimbrough said, “You are an example and an inspiration for other Habitat families and for all of us”.  Festivities included the handing over of the Satisfaction of Mortgage, a cake cutting with a picture of her home from 1996, and a fun beating of a mortgage piñata.

Marcy now works for the U.S. Census Bureau.  She got married five years ago and has a 2 year old son with her husband.  “I’m just very thankful, now I get to raise another child in the same house with my husband.  It’s just been a really good experience.”

We are very excited and so proud of Marcy’s accomplishment. Through faith and perseverance, she went from being homeless to paying off her mortgage in just 19 years.  Marcy inspires our belief that Southern Crescent Habitat for Humanity gives families a hand up, not a hand out.