News
RIVERVIEW — In a one-story house on a quiet street, a family lived with broken bedroom windows, rough concrete floors and a hole through the garage.
On Sunday, single mom Dawn Lopez and her two teenagers walked into what seemed like a brand-new home.
A redone roof arched over their heads. Smooth wood floors were below them. Redecorated bedrooms made for the perfect Friday night sleepover setting.
"Is this beautiful or what?" said Lopez, 45, with tissues bunched in her hand.
The Lopez family received the home makeover from former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Shelton Quarles' Impact Foundation. Their Riverview house is the third one redone through his "Home Blitz" program.
Partnered with Rooms to Go and Tampa interior design firm Studio M, the foundation provided new furniture and energy-efficient fixtures — a renovation that Quarles valued at $100,000.
His foundation chose the family, he said, because they are all "go-getters."
"Just because you're a single mother doesn't mean you should be disadvantaged," said Quarles, 39, who was raised by a single mom.
A decade ago, Lopez's husband died unexpectedly from liver and kidney failure. That left Lopez, a contract administrator, to hold the family together.
"She puts herself in the back seat so she can take care of everybody else," said Denise Okolovitch, who has known Lopez for 20 years through church.
Trey, 13, "took on the role of 'little man' early on," Okolovitch said. He fixed up a lawn mower found on Craigslist to start a grass-trimming business, cutting neighbors' yards until he could buy and repair a better mower.
And when Allie, 15, found out Quarles' foundation wanted to buy her a prom dress, she asked the organization to spend the money on her mom instead.
"Even with all the odds against them, they're good kids," Okolovitch said.
Camera in hand, she joined dozens of friends and neighbors eager to celebrate with the family — a testament, Quarles said, to the family's merit.
The Lopezes arrived home Sunday from a weekend getaway at the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa on St. Pete Beach. They had been out of the house for two weeks, with their belongings in portable storage units.
They stepped through the front door, through every new door in the house.
Tailed from room to room by friends, foundation workers and the media, Quarles guided the family through the renovations: "So you like it?"
"I am speechless," Lopez said.
The master bedroom had textured walls in her favorite sage green. The garage transformed into a workshop for Trey. A corner of the back yard featured a turtle pond for Allie.
Quarles kept checking: "How about the pictures? And the walls?"
"Everything is perfect," Lopez replied. "Everything is beautiful."
Disappearing into his bedroom, Trey roared. An airbrushed four-wheeler burst through the walls of the red-and-brown bedroom, with a TV mounted on the wall for his Xbox.
In the next room, Allie's eyes went first to the Rascal Flatts lyrics painted above her bed: You get mad, you get strong, wipe your hands, shake it off, then you stand.
She lingered at her desk, hand over her mouth and tears starting, looking at the row of family photos above the mirror.
There was no prom dress hanging in the closet.
Just a $200 gift certificate to her mom's favorite store sitting on the kitchen counter.
Stephanie Wang can be reached at swang@sptimes.com or (813) 661-2442.
Loading...
