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Housing & Community | Real Life Stories « First Front Door »
First Front Door Success Stories
‘Adopting’ Seniors Brings Two Families
Closer Together
Carolina Harvey just adored
a couple she knew in Harrisburg,
PA – so much so that
she and her husband moved all
the way from Massachusetts
to be closer to them.
“They’re like
a mother and father to me,” Carolina
said, explaining why she and
Lukeman Harvey left The Bay
State about four years ago.
Taking up residence in an apartment
in Lower Paxton, the couple
soon added a son, Jackson,
to the family. Starting to
outgrow their apartment and
anxious to become homeowners,
the Harveys located a two-story,
three-bedroom house with a
covered front porch perched
on a hill in Swatara Township,
just five minutes away from
their apartment. Their dream
of homeownership came true
on November 17, 2006, when
they closed on the property.
“My husband heard about
the First Front Door program
(FFD) through work and thought, ‘maybe
we can qualify for that,’” Carolina
remembers. Applying for an
FFD down payment and closing
cost grant through Sovereign
Bank, an FHLBank Pittsburgh
member, the Harveys ended up
receiving more than $4,700
to help defray some of the
up-front costs associated with
their first home. “I
don’t know what we would
have done without that money.
We could have been completely
cleaned out, with no money
to cover emergencies,” Carolina
recalls.
Financial assistance through
First Front Door was perhaps
more important than Carolina
first let on. Speaking late
one afternoon as Jackson, who
is about to turn three, munched
a gingerbread house prepared
with his ‘grandmother’,
Carolina explained that she
is six months pregnant and
that Jackson will soon have
a brother. They’ll have
separate bedrooms in the new
home. The Harveys’ ‘adopted
parents’ visit a couple
of times a week, Carolina added,
and they’re anxious to
meet their second ‘grandson’.
As if all this didn’t
keep the Harveys busy enough,
the family spends weekends
volunteering at an area social
services agency, making the
Harveys’ new residence
all the more comforting to
come home to each Sunday evening.
“First Front Door was
definitely a ‘10’ – it
was tremendously important,” reports
Carolina. “We are so
grateful that it exists.”
"Housing
is a way for families to build
wealth. First Front Door helps
families who might otherwise
overstretch their financial
resources when purchasing a
home."
— John Bendel, Community Investment director,
FHLBank Pittsburgh
Image courtesy
of Central Pennsylvania Business
Journal
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