I stand before you today as a proud former home Builder of Filer group 11! I’m a single mother who had the incredible opportunity to build her own home through the wonderful program offered by South Central Community Action Program. It is an honor to share my journey with you and how this program has not only set a great example for my children but also changed our lives for the better.

This is a little story about my family and me. My name is Francis. I am married to my lovely wife, Nicole, and together we have four kids, one boy and three girls. We are originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); we moved to the U.S. in 2017. And today I am so grateful to God and happy because my dreams are coming true to be a homeowner through this program.

I was offered the brochure and application at my job interview, which gave me more information on what self-help housing really was. I’ve heard about it but didn’t know too much about it. I was hired by the company in January 2010, and turned in my application for the wait list on that day. At the time, I had really bad credit and knew if I ever wanted this to happen, I needed to take care of my credit issues.

Tim was born and raised in Washington, graduating from Renton High School and Washington State University. After college he took a trucking job, which he ended up doing for 20 years as a commercial truck driver. Marian was raised in New York State, moved to Los Angeles and then to Seattle. She is a fitness instructor and teaches classes at gyms in Seattle and Kirkland. When they met in 2016, Tim had recovered from his treatment for a cancer diagnosis of a non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010.