Presenting the Smith Family

The Smith family is an amazing family of 17. Steven and Paulette are the proud parents of 15 children. Living in rural Texas, Paulette and Steven have had one consistent dream as parents. They desired to own a home where the entire family can live under one roof. Twelve kids still live at home. They range in age from 7 to 19. The older children do not live at home; however because of the high cost of living, they continue to support the family.

Always with a smile, Steven is an amazing man! The commitment to his responsibility, to his family, should be an example of what a husband should be; what a father should be; who a DADDY is; and how a MAN with tremendous responsibility should perform. Steven is a hard working wage earner with a diligent sense of responsibility to be a good provider for his family. Through hard times, Steven has managed to hold everything together. There are not many options for a family of this size living in rural America. Even when the home where they were renting was sold from under them, forcing the family to split apart, Steven held it together.

Paulette was crushed! For the first time, her babies did not live under one roof. However, Steven, dutiful to his family, eventually found a place to rent where they could reside as a family unit under one roof. Just imagine the cost to keep all of them together under one roof. Not once did they complain or point blame for their misfortune. Not once did he shuck his responsibility. On the contrary, they placed their kids with loving family until they could do better. Better is what he did! Steven would not rest until Paulette could have the family under one roof. They have always felt that their kids were their responsibility; no one else's. Fervent church goers, the Smiths never waiver in their faith. WREM was fortunate to learn of the Smiths when they became homeless. They contacted WREM about providing a permanent home for them.

WREM was in its infancy, and the grants we had written to help people like the Smiths with a loan for homeownership had not been approved at that time. Hearing their story, our goal became to ensure the family would never be split again. Steven is the only source of income in the family. Thus, a mortgage, inclusive of insurance and taxes each month, would have to be affordable. We were fortunate to find a lot appropriate for the Smiths that we purchased from a tax sale. Once we identified a lot, we were able to apply for a loan to build them a home. The home we built for them has 6 bedrooms and 3 baths.

The Smiths' project is a contribution toward community revitalization as well. Prior to the purchase of the vacant lot on behalf of the Smiths, the lot had been a non-performing asset on the tax role for decades. Once the home was completed, the lot started generating tax dollars. These tax dollars are revenue for the city, the county, and the school system. The funds from the construction create jobs. The wages paid to the workers are recycled through the community and fuel retail, restaurants, businesses, recreation, etc.

Steven has never put his responsibilities on another's shoulders. He and Paulette have always stood on their faith. With tremendous patience, they believed that their faith would personify into a home where they could bond forever. It is this FAITH that motivated us to help them bring their dream of homeownership to fruition. It took three years to provide the Smiths with the home displaying in the picture.

We feel so Blessed to have been chosen to assist them with making their dream come true. It has certainly been a pleasure serving them.