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."
Drutchas said 99 percent of the families whose homes they've furnished in Chicago and Detroit have not returned to homelessness.
A series of events — a separation and divorce, two interstate moves, a loss of her job — led Ragin-Winters and her son to a yearlong stay in a shelter, six-month stints in apartments, and bouncing among houses of friends and family.
At her initial interview, Ragin-Winters, a lively woman who loves all things girly and glam, told Drutchas and the two designers she wanted a Tiffany & Co.-themed bedroom and a vanity set in her room, and purple "with a hint of canary yellow" in the living room.
The Humble Design team blew her away with the finished product.
"It was way more than what I expected," said Ragin-Winters. "And it makes us feel like we're actually in a home and just gives us the feeling of knowing you are worthy of having decent things.
"It's a ray of light," she said. "We have a sense of stability, and we feel safe, most importantly. Our needs are met, and it gives us more time to focus on bonding with one another."
