THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410300036
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Pearl White's voice drops almost to an inaudible low when she talks about how far she has come.
Eight years ago, she was on a downward spiral.
Age 40. Divorced. Three kids. Several thousand dollars in debt. A clerical job that paid $16,000 a year. A rundown rental house in a blighted neighborhood.
``I didn't see any way out,'' White said. ``I didn't think I could go back to school because, as a single parent, I thought I needed to be around the house for the kids.''
An acquaintance told her that the Olde Huntersville Development Corp. helps turn low-income working people into homeowners.
``When I went over there, I remember, we were sitting on the floor of Bea Jennings' house talking with her daughter, Bea Garvin.
``When I left, I was flying. I was pumped. She showed me some plans. She said, `Oh, don't worry. We can work with you.'
``But when I got home and started pulling out all my bills, I said, `She's lost her mind! This lady is just pumping me up for nothing. There's no way in the world I can do this.' When I called her back, she said, `Don't worry about it. Come back over with your bills.' ''
With Jennings' and Garvin's encouragement, White stayed on a schedule for whittling her debts. Within months, she closed on a new, three bedroom, 2 1/2-bathroom house in Olde Huntersville.
It cost $55,000. That meant less than $400 in total monthly payments, less than her rent.
Soon, White went to a meeting of the Olde Huntersville Civic League. ``I saw here a sense of urgency to make the neighborhood better,'' she recalled. ``Then I thought, `I'm going to help somebody else. I'm going to spread this. I'm going to share it.' ''
Now, White is in her second year as president of the Olde Huntersville Development Corp.
She's recruited three other low-income women, including her sister, to buy corporation houses.
``I told them, `There are people here who are going to help you, people who are not going to look down on you, make you think you are stupid, make you feel poor, unworthy. There are people who will make you feel you can do it.' ''
White remains a clerk at the Norfolk Naval Base. But she has volunteered to organize several seminars on topics such as health and sexual harassment.
Now she's laying plans to act on a lifelong dream of selling fashion accessories. She arranges shows at churches and festivals and plans to start a new, full-time career after retiring early from the Naval Base.
``I used to think, `This does not happen to a black, single parent,' '' White said. ``But when you find that one piece of the American Dream can become a reality for you, then something in the back of your mind says, `Hey, there are other things that I can do, too.'
``To be at the income levels that I am, and to know that I could make a difference in people's lives means a lot. It means so much.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
Pearl White bought her three-bedroom house in Olde Huntersville
eight years ago.
by CNB