As Sheronna Ragin-Winters stood against the wall outside the door of her South Side Chicago apartment, she stopped to catch her breath. There was still so much to process: Just three weeks before, she and her teenage son had been homeless. Just that morning, in fact, their new apartment had been almost empty.
When their front door swung open to reveal a transformed living room, the multicolored "Welcome Home" banner slung across it took on new meaning.
Across from the entry point was the centerpiece of the room: a velvet, slate gray couch, covered by a faux fur blanket, and purple and canary yellow pillows. A custom canvas painting and coordinating floor-length drapes accented the room, with a bold black-and-white striped rug completing the chic aesthetic. Photographs, coasters, flowers, books and candles completed the room.
"Oh my God! Wow!" Ragin-Winters exclaimed, mouth agape, as she circled the room. Then she paused. Face scrunched, head lowered, she clenched her chest as an ocean of tears flowed down her cheeks.
"Thank you guys so much," she bellowed between sniffles. And there were still four more rooms to be revealed.
Before moving into her new apartment, Ragin-Winters, struggling to make ends meet, was homeless in Chicago for approximately two years. She often found shelter for the night in her car, or if she was lucky enough, on the couches, floors or beds of friends and family. She was able to secure an apartment with the help of a caseworker from Catholic Charities, who later referred Ragin-Winters to Humble Design, the company that fully furnished her apartment — no strings attached.
Humble Design, which was founded in Detroit, then later expanded to Chicago in 2016, is a nonprofit that provides fully furnished spaces to people emerging from homelessness by using donated local housewares and furniture.
"We're connecting people that have with those who are struggling and starting over," said Kristin Drutchas, director of Humble Design Chicago, which has helped more than 100 local families so far — most of them single women with children. "We pull together communities and get people literally up off the floor and moving forward in life."
