August 27, 2010
Catholics to build Habitat home for single mother and three children
Editor’s note: The information about Debra Schnakenburg and her family, including her quoted comments, was provided by Habitat of Evansville.
Debra Schnakenburg has been dreaming for months about the day when she would choose the lot where Habitat for Humanity of Evansville would build her new home. But when it came time to make that selection, one person was missing from her family. Just one month earlier, her husband, John, passed away suddenly.
“I can’t believe he’s not going to be there and see it,” Schnakenburg said, sitting in the Habitat office shortly after selecting her lot. “This meant so much to him.”
Debra and John Schnakenburg were married for eleven years. They have two children, 8-year-old Olivia and 10-year-old John. Debra has another child, 16-year-old Sam from a previous marriage.
Schnakenburg and her family will own the “Catholic build” home being constructed this year by Habitat.
Debra has lived in Evansville for most of her life. She graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and works at the Children’s Psychi-atric Center in Evansville as a recovery attendant.
Her husband started getting sick shortly after she landed her current job, and from then on, his health steadily grew worse, she said.
“I was working all the time just to keep up with the normal bills, but his medical bills started getting more and more expensive,” she said. “We were sinking slowly each month.”
When they learned they were approved for a Habitat home, they danced a “jig,” she said. “We just couldn’t believe it, be-cause it was an answer to our prayers.”
Schnakenburg now is concentrating on raising her children and making sure she provides for them. Olivia wants a pink room, and John said he just wants to make sure his room isn’t too “girlie.” Sam, the oldest, likes the layout of their new home; they chose the American design with four bedrooms.
“I’m hoping this will be a happy new beginning for our family,” Schnakenburg said.
Participants in the Habitat project include the Evansville churches of St. Benedict Cathedral, Christ the King, Corpus Christi, Good Shepherd, Holy Rosary, St. Agnes, St. Mary, St. Theresa, St. Boniface, Sacred Heart and Holy Spirit; and St. John the Evangelist in Daylight, St. Wendel Church in St. Wendel and St. Philip Church in Posey County.