APPLETON — "Sack it to Goodwill," The Post-Crescent's first Do It! community campaign of the year, is under way. Bags were inserted in the April 4 edition of The Post-Crescent. Fill that bag or any other bag with gently used clothing and houseware items. Leave the bags at the curb for pickup by area Boy Scouts on Saturday. The Post-Crescent is featuring information on Goodwill and its mission each day leading up to pickup day.

Shannon Epps is a single parent raising three daughters, works a good job and generally enjoys her life. However, one piece of the American Dream still remains elusive: owning her own home.

"My biggest downfall," the 37-year-old Appleton resident said, "is that I'm just not able to come up with that initial down payment."

A client manager with an area insurance company, Epps learned about Almost Home from a professional mentor.

Almost Home is a collaboration between Goodwill Industries of North Central Wisconsin and the Greater Fox Cities Habitat for Humanity. In a year, it has assisted more than 56 people in either qualifying for or retaining ownership of their Habitat homes.

Purchasing a home at 0 percent interest with Habitat "isn't just a piece of cake," said Jessica Patenaude, Almost Home's program coordinator. "You have to be willing to work for it. That's the reality.

"The home ownership program with Habitat for Humanity for a household of one adult means that family will complete 300 hours of sweat equity from application to the time they move into their home."

Those applicants willing to put in the time and energy, however, gain a strong ally. Patenaude helps clients work through the Habitat application process, assists those families that Habitat has declined to serve (often due to credit or debt issues) and supports Habitat families that have fallen on hard times.

Epps soon will learn whether her application for a Habitat home has been accepted. Whatever the outcome, she said she is a better person for having gone through the Almost Home process.

"I never even thought that I'd be a (Habitat) candidate or anything else," Epps said. "What this has done through my personal experience has given me a new sense of hope and goals. And it has fostered the idea that truly — one way or another — I can be a homeowner."

Almost Home is funded by a grant from the Basic Needs Giving Partnership, supported by the U.S. Oil Open Fund with the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region as well as the J.J. Keller Foundation Inc.

Source: Goodwill Industries of North Central Wisconsin