Meet Cara Czarnecki of Homes for Single Moms in Tempe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cara Czarnecki.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 2009, I was in real estate full-time and going through a divorce as well. It wasn’t a good time in our economy for either of those transitions. I was listing and negotiating short sales full-time and ran across single mom after single mom who was struggling to keep their home together, whether it was keeping up with repairs they either didn’t have money or knowledge to fix or pay a mortgage they now couldn’t afford. Since, I myself was a single mom, I started collecting resources for my own family and then began sharing them with other single parents.

As the years went on, I grew a community of single parents (both moms and dads) and would put together classes that addressed issues they were experiencing, from repairing their credit after divorce, to how to feed their children healthy meals to combat depression and everything in-between.

In 2015, after working at GoDaddy on their Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, I realized it was time to pin-point the program’s mission and finally make Homes for Single Moms a nonprofit corporation. In 2016, we established Homes for Single Moms as a nonprofit whose mission is to help single mother homeowners manage and maintain their homes. In our first year as a nonprofit, we have set the foundation for many years to come, as well as connected with single moms around the valley and those who want to sponsor, support and contribute to our single mom community.

Some of the events we’ve held in the past year were to take single moms and their kids to a Sun’s game, thanks to Trapp Technology’s suite donation. We serviced dozens of single mom’s cars, thanks to the generosity of Rollin’ Rust Garage who partnered with us on our Car Care Clinic. We held a legal clinic with Jeffrey D. Lynch, PLLC about legal documents every single parent should have. We have also donated washers and dryers to single parent households and held events that allow single moms an opportunity to connect with each other to build community.

We look forward to expanding our reach and our resources this year.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Some of the struggles have been too many requests for services or resources we don’t have. Sadly, we get many requests for shelters or single moms who are homeless or soon will be. Since that is not one of our resources or areas of focus, we put together a list of resources for single moms regarding various subjects (homeless shelters included) so we can at least point them in another direction instead of just saying “I’m sorry, we don’t have those resources.” We also struggle with having a place or way to distribute household appliances that people want to donate. We are currently looking for warehouse space and a way to transport these items so we can re-purpose them to single mother households.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Homes for Single Moms – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
There aren’t many programs out there that help single mother homeowners. There are a few HUD programs but you need to have a very low income to qualify for them. In my experiences, I’ve seen working mothers who make a decent wage just devastated by a costly home repair. Some even walk away from their homes if it seems too overwhelming to repair. Or if they have the money to fix it, they don’t know who they can trust to do the repairs. One thing that is unique about our program is that we don’t have an income cap to qualify. If the need is greater than the means, then we have vendors who will donate their services, or make repairs on a sliding scale. If the single mother homeowner doesn’t qualify for a reduced repair fee, then she at least knows she can call on someone trustworthy, affordable and ethical.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are looking forward to implementing more home repair projects. We are looking for warehouse space so we can collect home repair items, tools and donated appliances to re-purpose to single mother households. We are looking for vendors who want to donate their services once in a while and we are also looking to join with other community volunteers (youth groups, Boy Scout Troups, etc.) who want to help make a difference in a single parent household and community.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.homesforsinglemoms.org
• Email: cara@homesforsinglemoms.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homes4singlemoms/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HomesForSingleMoms/

Image Credit:
Photos courtesy of Cara Czarnecki and Paul Beard

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