The Crissenger Family

When Stacy heard about Habitat for Humanity about seven years ago she was working at Hear USA as a sales consultant and was struggling to afford the monthly rent and utilities for her apartment with a single income. Stacy says that she was doing everything that she could to make ends meet, but every year her rent would increase.

Stacy Crissinger is a single mother of three children, 19 year old Victoria, 15 year old Dani, and 13 year old Isaiah. During the eight years that Stacy lived in her apartment her rent incrementally increased from $900 per month to $1400. At the time Stacy was struggling to pay her bills and never thought that she would qualify for homeownership. After seeing an advertisement for Habitat, Stacy decided to attend an orientation and filled out an application. To her surprise, Stacy was approved for homeownership and construction began on her home in Greenacres. The Crissinger Home was the first Women Build project for the affiliate. In 2011 Women Build was a one day build to encourage women to become involved in construction.
Stacey moved into her Habitat home on July 23rd, 2011. Stacy’s mortgage payment is less than half of what her rent used to be. Stacy says that because of her affordable mortgage payment she was able to open savings account, which she had not had in many years. Stacy has been able to save for her future, pay for expenses for her children (two sets of braces and glasses) and was able to take her family on their first vacation to the Orlando theme parks. The stress of living paycheck to paycheck and making the tough decision of which bills to pay has been lifted from Stacy’s life and she is now able to set bigger dreams and has continued to strive for a better future.
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Stacy says that her children are thriving in their home. Stacy’s oldest daughter Victoria is now living in her own apartment and is attending Palm Beach State College working towards a degree in business management. Danny and Isiah now have their own bedrooms and enjoy having their friends over. Stacy said that no matter what path her children take, college, employment, or travel, they will always have a key to their home.

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