For single mothers, being able to provide all the things their kids need, especially a good home, may be no more than a distant dream. These days especially, accomplishing all that on their own is a tall order.
In Mesa, Arizona, a single mother of three named Elsa was able to provide a home for her family with the help of a former Arizona Cardinals quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner.
It was the 51st home since 2002 that the former football star, along with his wife, Brenda, delivered to needy households through their First Things First Foundation “Homes for the Holidays” program. It was made possible in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity of Central Arizona.
Elsa and her family were identified by Habitat for Humanity as the perfect beneficiaries because of their situation—a family of four, including an infant—and they were working hard toward saving up for it.
Not only did they get their first house, they received free furniture from Aaron’s and a fully stocked kitchen. What’s more, Habitat for Humanity and the Warners helped set them up for sustainable success.
Jason Barlow of Habitat for Humanity Arizona explained to KPHO, “At the end of the process, they have a home, an affordable mortgage, zero percent interest, and we have structured it so the payments are reasonable for them.”
But as Kurt Warner said, it’s not the stuff that comes with the house that matters most, it’s the sense of being together. “I think back to when I was younger and I can’t remember the food we ate, I can’t remember the presents I got, but what I do remember is the family coming together at our home,” he said.
Before meeting Kurt Warner, Brenda was a single mom herself, so the predicament of people like Elsa is especially familiar to her. Her husband was unfaithful to her, and she moved into her parents’ house with her two kids, receiving food stamps and working her way through a nursing program at night.
When she met and married Kurt Warner, everything changed for her, but she’s never forgotten what she had to overcome. “Somedays, you are the person who needs then one day you can be the person that gives, and it can switch in a heartbeat,” Brenda told KPHO. “I know from my own life it can switch in a minute so, where you are, do what you can.”
She and Kurt had been using their celebrity status and financial means to help others long before he retired from the NFL in 2009. Warner’s First Things First Foundation has also been involved in sending groups of critically ill children to Disney World each year with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Why does Warner spend so much time, energy, and resources giving back? His credits two things: his faith and his gratitude. As he said at the Mesa home unveiling for Elsa, the goal was “to use the platform that God has given us to impact people.”
