From Renting to Owning: Family Gets Keys to New Home

Tonight, a powerful reminder that sometimes dreams really do come true. For one Belize City family, years of waiting, praying, and hoping ended with a set of keys and a brand new beginning. Thanks to a partnership between Hand in Hand Ministries and Heritage Bank, a mother who spent years renting is now a homeowner. It’s a moment filled with gratitude, faith, and a place to finally call home. News Five’s Zenida Lanza has the story.

 

Zenida Lanza, Reporting

With singing, prayer, and a room by room blessing, Hand in Hand Ministries and Heritage Bank officially handed over the keys to a brand new home today, giving a family of three something they have never had before, a place to call their own. Shanice Castillo, a mother who had been renting, was the recipient, and when that call finally came telling her she had been accepted, she says she already felt it coming.

 

Shanice Castillo, Homeowner

“Well, I applied for 2024, and I gone and speak to Ms. Shannon, and she told me to make I wait until she called me for a house visit. She called me for a house visit like a week, and when I gone in, she tell me everything that I would need to do, and so far, we did all of that, and when she called me, she called me again to tell me, Ms. Castillo, you were accepted to get a house from Heritage, and I was all excited, because I had already felt it already, but I was just waiting for the call.”

 

The road to that call, however, was not a short one. Getting accepted into the programme involves interviews, home visits, and a careful review of each case to ensure the house goes to the family most in need. Shannon Stewart of Hand in Hand Ministries walked us through the process.

 

Shannon Stewart, Hand in Hand Ministries Belize

“Normally what we do, we would conduct interviews. We also do interviews in the family homes because we want to get a better understanding of the living situation for the family, and once we collect our necessary data, we take it back to the table and we discuss each and every case carefully because we want to ensure that the person that is chosen is the person that is most in need of the house, and at the end of the day, that was Ms. Shanice Castillo.”

 

For Shanice, the wait stretched over two years. But she says she never lost faith.

 

Shanice Castillo

“Well, I had patience. I wait, I pray, I left everything in God’s hands, because through Him, all things are possible. So I left it in His hands, and when its my time, its my time. And this is my time, so I have my house, I ham house owner. Thanks to Hands in Hands and Heritage Bank, I am more than happy and excited, can’t wait for moving.”

 

Today’s handover marks the organization’s five hundred and sixty-second house overall and their tenth for this year alone, a milestone made possible through their ongoing partnership with Heritage Bank. Shannon Stewart says that collaboration has only grown stronger with time.

 

Shannon Stewart

“We have been in existence for over 20 years, and this is our 562th house for this year, for us, and our 10th house for this year. It’s an amazing feeling to be able to work with an organization that looks out for the benefits of people that are in dire need. The cooperation is great. Each and every year, Heritage Bank comes out with their team, they come out stronger each and every year. They take the time to just give back to our community, to people that are most in need.”

 

This Saturday, Shanice moves in with her daughter and sister, not into a rented room, but into a home that belongs to them. Reporting for News Five, I am Zenida Lanza.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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