Beatrice Lane didn’t think she had much of a chance of being approved for Habitat homeownership, but the fact that she even had the opportunity to apply was already a step in the right direction.

Typically, Habitat for Humanity of Goldsboro-Wayne builds only in Wayne County. But thanks to a special offer from the state Office of Budget and Management, Habitat Goldsboro-Wayne is doing a special build in Kinston in this fiscal year 2021-22.

The goal when the application period for Lenoir County opened was to find a disaster-impacted family, and Beatrice and her three children certainly fit that description.

She explained she was living in Jacksonville, but when Hurricane Florence started bearing down on eastern North Carolina, she evacuated to Goldsboro. When they returned, though, she found that her place of employment, Extended Stay America, had suffered significant damage, which resulted in a significant loss of hours and pay for her.

Eventually she decided to relocate to Lenoir County in March 2019 and is currently employed as the operational manager at Fairfield by Marriott.

Unfortunately, she said, her challenges didn’t end wither move as she entered into a lease-to-own agreement for a mobile home that turned out to not only have significant water damage and mold in the kitchen and living room floors, but also needed much of the plumbing rebuilt – all at her unexpected expense.

That’s when a friend told her about the opportunity to apply to Habitat.

Beatrice Lane, center, and her children Aniya, 15, Omari, 10, and Dantrell, 1.

“I didn’t think I would get in, but she told me to pray about it, that you never know what doors are going to open,” Beatrice said.

And so Beatrice prayed, and one day while at work, the call came that she had been accepted into the Habitat program.

“Me and my housekeepers were all crying,” she said.

Now, as she works through her sweat equity hours, she is excited knowing that she is working toward a legacy for her children – Aniya, 15, Omari, 10, and Dantrell, 1.

“It’s going to be a safe and stable place for my family, and something I can leave them when I’m gone. Plus my daughter’s going to be going away to college in a few years and now she’s going to have a home to come back to on Christmas and spring breaks,” Beatrice said.

But, she said, it’s her younger children who are most excited because their new home, at 925 McCaskill Drive, will be in a neighborhood with other children, and will be a place where they can go trick-or-treating next Halloween.

“They said, ‘Mamma, you don’t even have to come with us, you can just sit on the porch while we go around the cul-de-sac!,” she said, laughing.