Andrea is a future homeowner partnering with Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity, and her journey to get here has been far from ordinary.
Andrea was born and lived her childhood years in Chile. Growing up, it was just her mom and grandmother, along with her three brothers, as her dad passed away when she was young. At 15, Andrea’s mom and grandmother made the decision to move their family to Holland, Michigan. Moving in the middle of her teenage years, she remembers missing her friends deeply and finding it hard to connect with others as she did not know a lot of English.
After high school, it was unclear what was next. At just 20 years old, she made the decision to join the Navy. She remembers meeting the recruiter and enlisting the same night. She completed bootcamp at the Great Lakes Naval Station north of Chicago, and then completing A-school to become a firefighter. After that, she was assigned to station in Hawaii. Andrea remembers taking a long flight and arriving to Bahrain at 3 AM instead, as her ship was deployed in the middle east at the time.
Andrea spent 4 years serving at Pearl Harbor Oahu Hawaii and then in 2014 moving to Norfolk, Virginia. She went on 2 different deployments, with the longest being 10 months. During her deployments, she traveled to Guam, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Dubai, Bahrain and Singapore.
As she reflects on her service, she shares, “The Navy taught me how to interact with people from all backgrounds. In the Navy, if you don’t like someone because of their race, or creed, or whatever, you have the opportunity to change your mind because there’s so much to learn from one another, and it starts with respect.” She went on to share that she learned what teamwork truly is, and how important it was to trust and rely on her shipmates.
In 2015, she had to make the tough decision to leave the Navy in order to care for her daughter, Emma, as her mother decided to move back to Chile, and there was no other family with them in Virginia.
Living life in the United States has unfortunately included a very expensive monthly rent for Andrea's family, like many other residents in West Michigan. A coworker told her about Lakeshore Habitat's Homeownership Program, and Andrea never thought she would get a call back when she applied. "My partnership with Lakeshore Habitat has been amazing. Everyone has been so good, friendly, and welcoming, making the process smooth and easy to follow."
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