Don London came to Stewpot Community Services, a nonprofit offering food and shelter for those in need, more than 20 years ago as a client. Addiction issues had left 32-year-old London homeless and hopeless.

London found more than just a meal and a place to sleep. He discovered a new sense of purpose, meaningful work, and with help from HOPE, transformed himself from homeless to homeowner.

Stewpot backs up to Bratton Street, a residential road in West Jackson that had fallen into blight and disrepair. Hope Credit Union loaned Stewpot the funds needed to purchase a block of modest houses along Bratton Street and renovate them. The houses were then made available for purchase from Stewpot by the nonprofit’s employees, many of whom were formerly unhoused.

One of the first new residents on Bratton Street was Don London, who moved from a shelter for the homeless into a newly renovated home of his own thanks to a job as a Stewpot volunteer coordinator and a low-interest mortgage loan from HOPE. London and three others participated in a monthly HOPE financial education class that taught them how to build their credit, prepare their income taxes, and take care of basic home maintenance. When he completed the classes, HOPE underwrote his mortgage, and London became a proud homeowner.

“My biggest worry was that I had no credit, and there was no one who could vouch for the fact that I could be a responsible person. HOPE gave me that opportunity,” London says. “The sense of responsibility that this house was mine, the joy of that, is hard to put into words. I considered it a demonstration of how God loved me, and how I could trust other people to help me.”

London paid his home off in 2018. He wakes up every day in a house he owns free and clear, in a neighborhood where he is known, respected, and beloved. While he has retired from his fulltime job at Stewpot, he still makes the short walk across his backyard every morning to volunteer there.

London believes that Hope Credit Union did more in his neighborhood than make it possible for the formerly homeless to become homeowners.

“HOPE in this area of Bratton Street has meant many things,” London says. “HOPE has given us a chance to be responsible people and role models in our community. HOPE has given the folks who reside here an opportunity to look forward to the future. I applaud HOPE for being brave enough to invest in things – and in people – who perhaps don’t look as if they will produce benefits. HOPE has proven that when given the opportunity, people can change. They can build themselves and they can build their communities.”