Habitat For Humanity Home Breaks Ground In Aurora

AURORA, IL — Cristal Lopez never had a childhood home.

She never got to crawl, then walk, then run around the same family yard as she grew.

Instead, Lopez, now of Aurora, spent her first 14 years in Chicago, hopping from apartment to apartment as her family struggled to make ends meet.

It wasn’t the future she had imagined for her own children. But life, as it usually does, got in the way.

Now grown, recently divorced, and a busy mom of three, Lopez said past hopes of giving her boys their own yard to play in were quickly fading.

She craved a home of her own, one with a front stoop where her boys would gather for back-to-school pictures. A home where birthday parties were thrown in the same living room every year, and the Christmas tree was nestled into the same corner.

Lopez said those blissful dreams faded each time she opened her eyes.

Then in January 2020, she was at work and vented to a co-worker about her situation.

“I was going though a really rough time in my life,” she said. “I was never in the position of having great credit or savings in the bank.”

Getting a home of her own, Lopez said, seemed outside the realm of possibility.

But when her co-worker suggested Habitat For Humanity as a solution to her woes, the stars began to align for the single mom.

Although she didn’t know much about the organization, and wasn’t even sure if she fit the bill as an applicant, Lopez put her doubts aside and filled out the paper work.

Turns out, she was the exact kind of candidate the organization was seeking.

Habitat For Humanity selects its homeowners based on three criteria: the applicant’s level of need, their willingness to partner with Habitat, and their ability to repay a mortgage through an affordable payment plan.

Like many homeowners, Lopez will have a 30-year mortgage to pay off, although her payments are funneled back into the Habitat organization for future builds.

In addition, Lopez must put in some serious sweat equity. She spends her only day off working at the Habitat For Humanity ReStore in Aurora. She will also participate in future builds, as well as the construction of her own home.

Chosen homeowners are also required to take financial education classes where they’ll learn about budgeting, credit cards, credit reports, debt and loans, saving, investing and planning for the future.

Lopez said she is excited to be able to take her finances into her own hands and make what she once thought impossible a reality.

“Because of my financial situation, and the situation I was in with the divorce, I thought I’d never achieve the goals I wanted to achieve,” Lopez said. “At the end of the day, I had faith that there was another way.”

When they broke ground on May 1 at 654 Spruce St. on Aurora’s West Side, Lopez was in tears. She said she couldn’t believe she was standing in the spot she’d soon call home.

Her boys — Anthony, 11; Malachi, 6; and Noah, 1 — were elated at the prospect of having their own bedrooms and a yard to run around.

“I’m most excited for them,” the doting mother said.

While the road to a groundbreaking wasn’t a short one (COVID-19 put a halt to things), it worked out in the end. Lopez said she will not only have a home after this, she also will have a family of volunteers and a network of people she can count on for life.

“This means everything to me,” she said. “All of the hard times haven’t been for nothing, because here I am now. I’m achieving one of the biggest life achievements someone could expect to achieve. My life goal was to own a home, especially for my kids, and for this to be happening to me is the biggest blessing.”

A group of more than 25 faith-based communities will come together to build Lopez’s 1,350-square-foot frame ranch home. It will include four bedrooms, one-and-a-half bathrooms, and a garage.

The build will be Habitat’s 69th area project. Construction is scheduled to begin in June and be completed by December, hopefully just in time to start new holiday traditions together in their forever home.

Habitat is still seeking donors and volunteers to help with the upcoming faith build.

Volunteers will have the opportunity to help build the home but can also provide prayers, lunches, volunteer support and donations of skilled labor. A water heater, furnace, air conditioning unit, bathtub, two toilets and kitchen appliances are still needed for the Lopez family’s new home.