Lam, Sara and their two daughters celebrating home dedication.
Athletic Standout’s Financial Growth Puts His Family On Fast Track to a New Habitat Omaha Home
Lam was fast as an Omaha high school and college track and field standout, but as an adult, he quickly discovered that you cannot outrun your debt – especially if you want to own your own home.
It’s not that the debt Lam acquired was frivolous or that he lacked a work ethic. Lam has a good-paying job that he’s held for nearly 20 years, and he has occasionally worked one or two additional jobs.
It was a personal loan that became the credit hurdle. Like many people, his wife, Sara, suffered a severe and expensive health issue. The loan was to help with family expenses while they were paying their medical bills.
In addition, Sara stopped working outside the home when the couple’s third child arrived. Child daycare is expensive with three children aged 4 and under, including son Thilehowluang, 4, daughter Chuorler, 2, and newborn daughter, Nenney.
“You need to take care of your family first,” Lam said. And families with young children, along with health issues, create more bills. Before you know it, things can go sideways, and they did with the personal loan. “It doesn’t matter how long you make money,” Lam added. “If you have bad credit, you have nothing.”
Those problems, combined with Lam’s desire to provide a stable home for his children, led him to find a helping hand at Habitat for Humanity of Omaha.
“I give credit to Molly (Lam’s Habitat Omaha Home Journey counselor),” Lam said. “She did not give up on me, and I couldn’t give up on her. I kept working and did not give up. “Anything she asked me to do, I just did it right away.”
Habitat Omaha’s Home Journey program provides guidance and financial education and helps remove barriers to first-time homeownership. This allows families like Lam’s to gain financial confidence and the ability to purchase a home.
Now, Lam’s dream for his family is a reality. They are about to move into their new, light gray home with white trim in Habitat Omaha’s Bluestem Development.
His family and Habitat Omaha also are grateful to their Ag Build partners: Farm Credit Services of America, Green Plains, Lindsay, Scoular, and Viterra. These agriculture-based organizations provided funds and employee volunteer labor to build homes for hard-working families to purchase. Nearly 200 volunteers from these companies contributed more than 1,300 hours to build the home.
“I did not think I would ever own a home,” Lam said. “I want to grow, and I want them (his children) to grow up in a house.” But Molly helped me believe I could overcome.”