GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — It's a celebration of independence and home ownership.
From now on Chanelle Dodson will live in a newly renovated Garfield Heights home with her two girls.
"They're so excited, they're giving tours of the home and everything," said Dodson.
It's the first time in over two years she'll have her own space. She's been living at Laura's Home, a place for displaced moms and their kids.
"I came into a hardship," Dodson said. "It was in my relationship my finances and also within myself so it was like I was at a stuck place and we were going nowhere."
But Dodson worked hard to overcome those hardships and people took notice.
"She's been such a great influence on the other women and they watch her, she doesn't even know other women are watching the way she handles things," said Linda Uveges of The City Mission.
The folks at The City Mission and Laura's Home teamed up with financial services company AXA, who raised more than $45,000 to renovate the home.
"We raised dollars for the house, we bought the house through the land bank and did a lot of the renovations here," said Gregg Lapisa of AXA.
Now she has a dream home for her girls. It includes a new kitchen, comfortable living space and most importantly for Dodson, a prayer room.
"It's not been my last resort, it's been my only resource and the reason why I'm here, it's because of prayer," said Dodson.
This is the fifth home The City Mission has given away to deserving moms and in 2019 they hope to gift four more homes.
"We really believe this breaks the cycle of poverty of homelessness so that family, its great for Chanelle for the mom but her children are seeing something completely different they are seeing their mom work, they are seeing how to take care of a home," said Uveges.
For Dodson this home just isn't a warm place to lay her head, it's the start of a new life.
"To every end there is a new beginning and I'm really walking in my new beginning," Dodson said.
