When Samantha’s Grandma Shirley passed away in March of 2017, she came to the realization that grandma’s house would be sold and she felt sad that she wouldn’t be able to go there anymore to play. The following is the conversation she had with her mother, Jamie, and what ultimately inspired her to pay it forward with pennies for Habitat.
Samantha: “Mommy, I have an idea. We could go get the people who live under the bridge by where Grandma Dot plays bingo and let them live in Grandma Shirley’s house instead of selling it.”
Jamie (Sam’s mom): “Baby, I wish we could, but there are bills that need to be paid and it costs money to live there.”
Samantha: “We could give them money!”
Jamie: “I wish it was that easy, sweetheart, but we’re still paying for our own house.”
Samantha: “I have money in my piggy bank, they can have that!”
Jamie: “Baby girl, I love your heart and how you’re thinking, but it would cost a lot of money. We help in other ways, like when you came to visit me at the Habitat for Humanity house. Remember? They help people who don’t have homes.”
Samantha: “We could collect pennies then. Everyone has brown pennies and nobody likes the brown pennies. We could ask people to give their brown pennies to us so we could help them buy houses.”
Jamie: “I really love that idea, but it would take like a million pennies.”
Samantha: “Then we’ll ask a million people!”
Jamie: “Baby, I promise you that somehow, I will help you find a way to help them. I love that you want to help and I will help you to make that happen.”
One year later, Samantha, her sister Sophia, her mom Jamie and Grandma Dot came to the Habitat administrative office in Georgetown with two jars full of pennies for Habitat!! 
But she and her family are not stopping there! They have reached out to the girls’ elementary school principal to challenge the school and students to give back to Habitat too with a Nickels for Nails campaign. Nickels for Nails is an opportunity for the students to bring in their extra “nickels” and other coins to help more families in Williamson County achieve strength, stability and self-reliance through homeownership.
