{"id":762,"date":"2025-01-06T17:04:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T22:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/habitatseminoleapopka.org\/?post_type=homebuyer-story&#038;p=762"},"modified":"2026-01-27T14:58:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:58:58","slug":"latonya-riley","status":"publish","type":"homebuyer-story","link":"https:\/\/habitatseminoleapopka.org\/es\/homebuyer-story\/latonya-riley\/","title":{"rendered":"LaTonya"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">LaTonya is an Apopka woman, through and through! She grew up in Apopka, lives there now, and is thrilled to be buying her forever home right there. Her son, Cameran, will graduate from Apopka High School this spring and won\u2019t have to go far in his cap and gown. LaTonya works hard for Orange County Public Schools as a school bus monitor, truly loving what she does. Maybe not the teacher she once wanted to be, but her life took a different course. Those years ago, she was going to college, working, and raising a family. When her schedule became overwhelming, she quit school and focused on work and family. That led to 18 years of service at McDonalds and four children of whom she is very proud. LaTonya\u2019s life totally changed in 2016, when her mother passed away and grief engulfed her. Not quite a year later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to quit work. Thanks to family, friends, and the faith she had to support her, she fought the battle bravely. In remission from that cancer, she was then diagnosed with another form of the disease in 2020 and had to have major surgery. Still fighting cancer, wanting to work, desiring something better for her life, and tired of her state of mind, LaTonya decided to focus on rebuilding her credit. That was Spring 2022, when she also began working for OCPS. She learned about our Habitat Financial Academy from a friend and longtime Habitat homeowner and enrolled in the course. LaTonya\u2019s determination and new knowledge bore fruit and her score now nears 800! That friend also encouraged her to apply to become a Future Homebuyer\u2026and the rest is history! Accepted into the Homebuyers Program in May 2023, she was filled with nervous excitement. \u201cBe careful what you pray for,\u201d she says, \u201cyou just might get it!\u201d Off work in the summer, and with Cameran\u2019s help, LaTonya quickly finished her sweat equity hours, all while not in the pink of health. \u201cWhen they say sweat equity, I really sweated! I almost gave up, but I kept going, otherwise I wouldn\u2019t be where I am today.\u201d LaTonya says it best. \u201cI\u2019m blessed, excited, kind of nervous, and grateful\u2026it still seems unreal. Every time I ride by, I say \u2018Is that mine?\u2019\u201d She also wants people to know to \u201cnever give up on your dreams, it\u2019s never too late, keep fighting, and keep God first.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m proud of myself,\u201d says LaTonya. \u201cAnd I\u2019m proud of Cameran, who is ready to move. He never once said he didn\u2019t want to go [help on a jobsite].\u201d LaTonya &#8211; we\u2019re totally proud of you, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":763,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"give_campaign_id":0,"iawp_total_views":80},"class_list":["post-762","homebuyer-story","type-homebuyer-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/habitatseminoleapopka.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/homebuyer-story\/762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/habitatseminoleapopka.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/homebuyer-story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/habitatseminoleapopka.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/homebuyer-story"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/habitatseminoleapopka.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/habitatseminoleapopka.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}