Dream of homeownership coming true for single mother<\/a><\/p>\nDonbach knows that challenge. <\/p>\n
She works full time at a veterinarian\u2019s office in Jacksonville Beach, but for the previous seven years she has commuted from Orange Park because she couldn\u2019t afford to live at the beach.<\/p>\n
Now, she\u2019s helping build a home of her own in Coastal Haven, a Beaches Habitat for Humanity community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been doing a lot of the framing and strapping,\u201d Donbach said as she showed off the townhome she\u2019s helping construct. \u201cIt\u2019s been pretty amazing to be able to work on the actual structure itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Habitat homebuyers are required to contribute 300 hours of \u201csweat equity\u201d as part of the process. <\/p>\n
They must also meet credit requirements and take classes in money management and budgeting.<\/p>\n
For Donbach, the opportunity came at a difficult time. <\/p>\n
Her son, Xander, is on the autism spectrum, and she said major changes can be hard for him. <\/p>\n
But he\u2019s excited to have a place they can call home.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn my salary, I can\u2019t even afford to qualify for a one-bedroom apartment the way rent is,\u201d she said. \u201cThis has just been a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donbach said she found Beaches Habitat while searching online for a safe, affordable place for her family after Xander\u2019s father went to prison. <\/p>\n
Rising costs for gas and groceries have added to the strain of supporting a family on one income.<\/p>\n
The move will make a huge difference in the mother and son\u2019s daily lives, too. <\/p>\n
Donbach said the new home will cut her commute from more than an hour to about 10 minutes, giving her more time with her son after work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be eternally grateful,\u201d she said. \u201cMy hope is to continue to work to help other people out, because without volunteers, without Habitat, I don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donbach hopes to move into the new townhome next year.<\/p>\n
Beaches Habitat for Humanity<\/p>\n
The organization is building a 44-home community off Mayport Road in Atlantic Beach. <\/p>\n
The homes are being built in stages. <\/p>\n
Habitat always needs donations and volunteers. Learn more about homeownership, volunteering and donations by clicking here<\/a> or searching: beacheshabitat.org.<\/p>\nCopyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAYPORT, Fla. \u2013 After years of commuting from Orange Park and struggling with housing costs, Andrea Donbach is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15851,169427,502,116,118,117,2159,5436,12276],"class_list":["post-432158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-addressing-affordability","tag-beaches-habitat-for-humanity","tag-community","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-money","tag-morning-show","tag-positively-jax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}