Meet Josie.

Despite growing up in a loving home, Josie says her life began to spiral in her teen years. 

She found herself hanging out with the wrong crowd, making poor choices, and ended up experimenting with drugs and drinking alcohol. By age 17, she was using meth. She met a man whom she married and had 3 children. Eventually, she put in the hard work to become sober, however, her husband was still actively using. In 2007, she made the difficult decision to divorce him. That created a lot of stress in her life, and she fell into a deep depression. After being sober for five years, she slipped and started using again. This led to her losing her children, losing her relationship with her family, and losing her self-worth.

When Josie became pregnant with her 4th child, she took the steps to become sober once again. She found a great support system and has earned back the trust and respect of her children and family. Josie has been sober for three years. The last two years, she has been living in her parent’s basement. Although she is incredibly appreciative for the help, Josie wants a home of her own to live with her younger children. 

She considers this a second chance, an opportunity to make things right and she is grateful for the opportunity.

Lakes Area Habitat for Humanity is proud to partner with Josie to build a new home for her and her children where they can live together and create new memories as a family.