Dina didn’t know the house would be furnished. Happy Mother’s Day to her.
When Dina, a single mother, and her two young daughters stepped through the front door of their new Habitat for Humanity® home Monday morning, they were greeted by something they hadn’t expected — a fully decorated, move-in-ready home right down to the sunflower dish towels in the kitchen and a Hello Kitty bedroom waiting upstairs for Dina’s youngest.
The shriek that followed said everything words couldn’t.
Dina, a pharmacy technician and former foster child, has spent 15 years building a life for her daughters, Amarissa (9) and Breena (7). On May 4, that life got a little more room to grow in Surprise, Ariz.
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Kurt and Brenda Warner’s First Things First Foundation® partnered with Habitat for Humanity of Central Arizona and corporate sponsors, including longtime partner U-Haul®, to deliver the charity’s 65th furnished home.
U-Haul has supported the Warners and their “Homes for the Holidays” initiative since 2008, contributing funds, volunteer hours, and home furnishings for families across metro Phoenix, where the company has been headquartered since 1967.
U-Haul Team Members volunteered to shop and stage the home based on a wish list the family didn’t know was being used. One daughter, a fan of marine biology, received an ocean-blue bedroom. The other got a pink and purple bedroom with all the Hello Kitty® highlights she could handle.
Warners Inspired by Hope
For the Warners, this program is personal. Kurt, an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and former Arizona Cardinals legend, was raised by a single mom. Brenda was a single mom of two when they met.
Kurt still remembers the day they bought their first home together — no furniture, just a blanket spread on the living room floor, the four of them lying there together. “It was one of the greatest days of our life,” he said, “knowing that we had secured a home to be able to give our kids all of those incredible memories moving forward.”
At the ribbon cutting, Brenda spoke directly to the mother. “Single moms are the toughest people I’ve ever met,” she said. “Coming from me, being a Marine, that says a lot.” Brenda told Dina she was doing something right. Dina cried. “I can look in her eye and know that she’s just getting a fresh start,” Brenda said afterward. “That never gets old.”
For Kurt, the reactions are what keeps him coming back. “Some people are screaming, some people are in tears, some people don’t say a word — it’s just all inside,” he said. “Ten, 15 years from now, they’re going to look back on this day and this home and what it meant for them.”
Dina, who learned about Habitat for Humanity from her foster sister, said the moment reinforced a lesson she tried to pass on to her girls. “If you can dream it, you can achieve it,” she said. “Hard work, dedication, and financial discipline, along with a belief in yourself, hope, and faith, can help you reach your goals. Never give up — even when it seems impossible.”
To read more blogs on Kurt Warner home reveals with U-Haul Company’s support, click here.
