Crystal Meeks, a single mother of three, is looking forward to planting flowers and vegetables in her own backyard this spring.

Thanks to a partnership between Habit for Humanity and two Arkansas credit unions, she'll be able to do so.

“I have lived in homes with backyards at other times of my life but the place we're in now, it doesn't even have a backyard,” Meeks said.

The Habitat for Humanity of Pulaski County along with the $1 billion Arkansas Federal Credit Union in Jacksonville, Ark., and the $322 million Telcoe Federal Credit Union in Little Rock, Ark., are building Meeks and her family a home with three bedrooms, two baths, complete with a backyard.

The whole family is looking forward to the extra space even if the two boys will still have to share a bedroom, Meek said. For years, she and her daughter Kaylee, 14, and sons, Frank, 13, and Adrian, 11, had been living in a series of apartments. The latest was a tiny one with two bedrooms and one bathroom.

The family hopes to move into their new home at the end of March or early April.

“They haven't been able to give me a firm move-in date yet because so much of the schedule depends on the weather, but I know they are aiming for the end of March,” Meeks said.

Much of the home's construction occurred Jan. 30, when Meeks, along with a team of volunteers made up of soldiers and airmen from area military bases and staff from local contractors came together to raise the walls on the new house.

“Oh my God, it was cold,” Meeks recalled later when interviewed by CU Times. “But it was worth it because I knew we were building our home.”

Meeks, a dental assistant in Cabot, a suburb of Little Rock, said she didn't believe she would get the house when she applied with Habitat but her sister urged her to try. The chances of buying a home the traditional way seemed elusive to Meeks. Still, she figured she had nothing to lose by applying.

Like some budding homeowners, Meeks was not alone in her pessimism of obtaining a mortgage loan. According to the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a nonprofit that advocates for policy changes to help low and moderate-income households, 63% of consumers in Arkansas have subprime credit scores and 38% are either unbanked or underbanked.

Helping people like Meeks, who are struggling to get ahead financially and are finding the journey to be a slow one, made the partnership with Habitat a solid decision for Telcoe, according to Sarah Mosley, president/CEO of Telcoe. Mosley is pictured at left with Telcoe Collections Manager Ken Sullivan.

Ken Sullivan, collections manager and Sarah Mosley, president/CEO, both from Telcoe FCU, pitched in to help build the home.

“I think it's important to note this project got started with Larry Biernacki, the now retired CEO at Arkansas Federal,” Mosley said.

The credit union committed $35,000 to the effort, which was about half of the total amount needed, she said. Telcoe contributed $17,000 and another $17,000 came from a donor who asked to remain anonymous.

Under an agreement with Habitat, Meeks helped build the home and will repay the organization the donated $70,000 it took to buy materials for the project. The payments will be spread out over monthly installments and should Meeks sell the home, the remaining balance would go to Habitat. Mosely said the organization recycles any proceeds from sales into more home projects.

Rodney Showmar, the current president/CEO at Arkansas FCU, said the credit union was pleased to have followed through with Habitat. He described the involvement as a “good experience” and one the cooperative would be open to repeating.

“This is just a part of what we do all the time to help build our community,” Showmar said.

Mosley serves on the board of Habitat of Humanity of Pulaski County and was one of the volunteers helping to build the Meeks home on that frosty Saturday in January.

“Oh yes, it was definitely one of the colder days,” Mosley said.

What helped was the warmth that came from being among all the young military personnel who volunteered on their days off to help build the new home.

“It was really just inspiring to work with them. They arrived, they worked hard and didn't want to be thanked. It was glorious,” she said.

Many things had to come together to make that day happen, Mosley said. While finding land where houses can be built is a challenge, someone donated a suitable lot. Finding a family with the right mix of experience and determination can also be difficult. Meeks' application came in at the right time.

“I really think this house is going to be good for them,” Mosley said. “It's outside Cabot, but not too far. Her kids are not going to be too far from school and she is not going to be too far from work, so we think it's a solid placement.”

Meeks said she is not a credit union member but after seeing how the cooperatives helped with the house, she was thinking about joining, if eligible.

“I have been talking to the people at Habitat about it some,” Meeks said. “They were telling me a credit union could maybe refinance my car loan and cut the payments a bit and that would help.”