Ruth Jones Stinger

I stopped by the Fuller Center office on the way into work today and was able to catch up with Ruth Jones Stinger, who was working on getting things together for the build.

Ruth is another of the nine future homeowners in the Allendale neighborhood. While we talked she told me about her journey to North Louisiana after riding out Hurricane Katrina on the West Bank of New Orleans with her family. Ruth and her elderly mother were among the many people in New Orleans East that lost their homes to the hurricanes.

She told me when they fled the storm she had planned to go to Houston but ended up in Shreveport instead. "I never thought we would go this far," she said. "God guided us here."

After she got settled here, Ruth got a job at the El Dorado Casino as a security guard, got her and her mother into apartments, started saving money and got into the Fuller Center program a few months ago. Ruth said she is excited about owning her first home and can't wait to start making it her own.

"I gotta start using the word mortgage now instead of rent," she said.