WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A family of seven has a new home thanks to first responders and Habitat for Humanity.
Dionte and Denise Epps are parents of five who have known each other since they attended high school in Washington, D.C.
They married on July 20, 2011, and then their children followed.
Unfortunately, Dionte and Denise separated over time.
Dionte had a dream to own a house by the age of 30.
When he still lived in the Baltimore area, he saved around $20,000 to purchase a home with two bedrooms and 1 ½ baths through a program but unfortunately, due to internal issues with the program, the house never came to be.
"Unlike Habitat, they didn’t let you help build the home yourself, so there was nothing I could do,” he said.
Back in the Winston-Salem, COVID-19 had stopped everything in its tracks.
In-person school had been canceled and with five children at home, it became too difficult for Denise to handle on her own.
Dionte began coming over to help out more and the family all worked together to make it through the worst including when both Dionte and Denise lost their jobs.
Somehow the difficult times brought a silver lining- Dionte and Denise found their way back to each other and fell back in love.
“A lot of things change, attitudes change, and sometimes you have to fall in love again to know it’s really worth trying and not giving up,” Dionte said.
They remarried on July 20, 2021 – exactly 10 years to the date of their original wedding.
Denise and Dionte then entered into the Habitat for Humanity program in late 2022.
Now, the family has received a Habitat house built in part by police, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies.
Dionte, 33, and a bus driver for the City of Winston-Salem, didn’t make his goal of being a homeowner by age 30, but he is delighted to be getting a 5-bedroom, 2 ½-bathroom house for much less than the family is currently paying in rent.
“I encourage anybody and everybody who qualifies to get in the Habitat program and stay committed to it, no matter what, because it is worth it. There are times you want to give up, but there are some really good people at Habitat who really want you to succeed and be in that house. They have really supported our family.”
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