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hard work pays off for Kelli

​Kelli says she's "doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing" here in Anacortes. She's housed at AFC, she works at AFC, and she will soon move into a home she owns! It's an amazing turn of events for someone who has cycled through many periods of gain and loss: jobs, relationships, housing, sobriety, and even freedom.

 

Though she's quick to insist there's no one to blame except herself, Kelli says her parents "had too many kids." They both worked hard, leaving the children to supervise themselves. "They were unable to give us a lot of what we needed," she remembers. As the youngest of five kids, Kelli hung out with her older siblings and their friends, establishing a pattern of seeking others to look out for her. She had no vision for her future and made some poor choices, such as dropping out of school at an early age.

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a substance abuse cycle

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Fast forward a couple of decades--Kelli found herself an ex Navy wife, the mother of two daughters other people were raising, and after a few years of sobriety, using again. In her own words, she was "floundering." She describes heartbreaking days of getting drunk, then sleeping, then drinking again--sometimes three of those episodes within 24 hours. Kelli worked off and on during this time and she racked up legal problems: DUIs, traffic tickets, and more. Without other options, she eventually turned herself into the police and served some time in jail.  

 

When released, Kelli went to Friendship House in Grays Harbor, then she got an apartment with a roommate in Aberdeen. The one they could afford was in an unsafe area of town. Kelli felt like she was "fighting crime just to get to work." And work she did--two jobs to comply with the payment plan set up for her accumulated fines and penalties.

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hard work + good luck = HOME OWNERSHIP!

 

A sister in Anacortes suggested Kelli come to the Anacortes Family Center. She moved into an apartment in one of the affordable housing buildings and continued to work, though she had to commute to Burlington for her job. When she was offered a Facilities Assistant position at AFC, she took it without hesitation. She was excited to learn a Habitat for Humanity project in town was available for applications, but the organization only accepted families at first. Soon they opened up to single adults, and Kelli was in!  She will move into a home she owns this summer, and just a third of her income will go to mortgage payments.  She puts in her "sweat equity" at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Mount Vernon.

 

Along with making better decisions and working very hard, Kelli has experienced a run of good luck and she knows it. The opportunities made available to her through AFC and Habitat are "huge for me," Kelli says.  "To say I've been treated well in Anacortes is an understatement."

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