HER OWN TWO FEET

Her Own Two Feet

Tabitha Crabtree, a single mother of three, has lived in an apartment complex run by the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Complex for 11 years.  Tabitha first moved to Wilkes Villa when she was pregnant with her first child, and never thought she would stay. 

Although Wilkes Villa was the best place for her at the time, throughout the years, while not making nearly enough to support a family of four, Tabitha found herself stuck in what many call the "projects."  With an autistic son, mounting doctors' bills, and the cost of living, Tabitha said, "I was working so we could be OK today."

A month before the move, Tabitha looked at trailer homes at Colonial Oaks Mobile Home Park, in Elyria, Oh.  That same day, she put a deposit down on a home; a decision which was largely influenced by her desire to stand on her own two feet and her three children--Scott, 10, Dillon, 6, and Aurora, 3.

Then, on a rainy Saturday morning in July, with the help of her children and friends, Tabitha packed a truck with her family's belongings for the move. 

Although her new home is just 5 minutes down the road, she and her family left public housing to go home.  Tabitha said, "I got my family out, and I am never coming back."