“My house will be a place where love, joy, and happiness will reside.”
Briana Gibbons is working towards having a forever home for her three sons, Javon (age 9), Jayden (age 6), and Jordan (age 4). She has worked for Pinellas County Schools as a Human Resources Representative for over a year now and is a hard-working single mother who is fully devoted to providing a path to success for her children. Javon is the oldest child and loves to play basketball and football. He plays the trumpet in his school band and has a new interest in coding. His younger brothers enjoy looking up to Javon as their role model and try to do everything he does. Jayden, the middle son, loves cars, drawing, and riding his bike – his mother says he calls it his car. Jordan is the youngest and loves playing basketball, football, and soccer.
In our current day and age, our community is facing a housing crisis, and Briana and her family is no exception. “In regards to me and my family’s living situation, honestly speaking, the rent is just too much.” With her current income and rent payments, Briana is forced to live paycheck to paycheck. “My children are young and want to go places and do things, but because money is tight, I can’t really afford to take them places.” Her family likes to get creative and find free alternatives in the community to take her kids to. She has also experienced additional service fees on top of her rent that should have been covered by her property management company. Within the next year, Briana and her family will be able to move into a more affordable home with a lot more space to grow and for her kids to play.
The first emotion Briana felt after learning her family was accepted into the program was overjoyed. “I literally burst out in tears. I worked so hard to build my credit and hearing that I was accepted, all my hard work paid off. I prayed for this moment; I prayed to become a homeowner and God has truly answered my prayers.” She just started her sweat equity hours and is excited to volunteer on a construction site to learn more about the process of building a house.
In her new Habitat home, Briana is looking forward to stability and security. “I am looking forward to spending time with my family in our forever home. I can’t wait to sit on the porch and watch my children play in the yard, start a garden, and even open the garage door to let the boys park their bikes. I can’t wait to create memories with the ones I love.” Building a Habitat Home and giving a family like Briana’s a sanctuary of stability and security would not be possible without donations from our community. Donations to Habitat can be accepted in the form of monetary donations, sponsorships, and physical donations of furniture and home appliances to our ReStore. For more information on how to Donate to our organization, please visit our Donate Page on our website.
“I want to be apart of this process; this journey. I want to learn new things and be able to show my children that anything is possible.”
The Gibbons family home was dedicated on March 28th, 2022 and was sponsored by Pinellas Community Partnerships.
