Women Build 2009 Partner Family
Family Finds Brighter Future After Hurricane

Florence Cotham lived in Kenner with her husband and three sons in 2005 when the dark clouds of Hurricane Katrina swept through the Gulf of Mexico. Florence held her breath, like everyone else, hoping for the best.

Katrina took Florence’s home and husband: her trailer park was closed down, and her husband said he was taking their trailer to LaPlace, with or without her. “We had some long-time problems,” said Florence. “When he said, ‘If you want to leave, now’s the chance’ … I did.”

Florence moved with her three boys (now ages 15, 18 and 20) to her mother’s property in Folsom. In addition to working and parenting her sons, Florence takes on the added responsibility of caring for her 18-year-old son Shane who is disabled and not allowed to be left alone. A family friend lives with them to help out.

They stayed in a FEMA trailer for three years and then moved into her mother’s old house. “It’s pretty small for all of us, and it needs a good bit of repair, but I couldn’t afford to buy anything that was out there,” Florence says of the staying in the house. Not wanting to rent a home, she found she needed to repair her credit to be eligible to buy a home. “I fixed my credit by paying off my bills, one at a time and then applied to Habitat,” Florence said. “I’m the type of person who likes to work for what I get, so Habitat seemed like a good fit for me.”

She admits Habitat’s program is a lot of work, but says she found it a lot of fun too. “I really liked the financial fitness class. I learned a lot.” Even her oldest son enjoyed volunteering on the construction site.
The silver lining of her dark cloud is easier to see now. “I just want my family to have a stable home; that’s important to me,” she says. “I’m so glad that I found a Habitat. I’ve always wanted to buy a house of my own and now I can.”

Women Build 2009