Chris Johnson | Posted on December 14, 2021 |

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: La’Trisha Finley — “A whole house full of joy”

WEST POINT, Georgia — La’Trisha Finley is one of two homeowner partners who partnered with The Fuller Center to build new homes at the 2021 Millard Fuller Legacy Build hosted by the Chattahoochee Fuller Center Project. The weeklong build just might have been the wettest Fuller Center blitz on record.

Yet, it’s a close call whether all of that rain measures up to the tears of joy Finley has shared throughout the process. Today, though, Finley is all smiles, and her life is full of sunshine as she prepares to celebrate her first Christmas in the new home with daughter Asia and adult son Jaylin.

“I’ve got a whole house full of joy,” Finley said. “It was a humbling experience to see all those people come to work in the rain and giving such good positive energy, just love. I felt so blessed, and that’s how I feel now. It’s the best gift in the world to have home ownership.”

As an amputee, Finley said that being in a home designed to accommodate her wheelchair and other needs has dramatically changed her life.

“I’m so thankful,” she said. “It’s so nice to be able to get in my wheelchair and be able to roll around my whole house. It’s a blessing. And just to know that I never have to move again, that’s the biggest blessing of all.”

While the memories of that rainy build remain fresh in her mind, she also fondly recalls the sweltering July days when a student group from Minden, Louisiana’s First Baptist Church came to assemble walls for the project.

“I told them, ‘Your parents have got to be proud because you’re learning to do for someone else who can’t do it for themselves the way it needs to be done at this moment,'” she recalled of her meeting with the teens.

Now, she says the greatest gift she will be getting this year will not be under the tree — it will be the home in which the tree sits.

“This is my Christmas present,” Finley said “We’re just looking forward to having Christmas in our home, a home that’s going to be our home forever. It’s a great feeling.”