BRINGING A FAMILY HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

PROVO, Utah—For Kenneth Grill a new home just in time for Christmas meant more than a place to call his own. It meant he could now fulfill a promise he made to his wife over ten years ago.

Grill met and fell in love with a Filipino woman in 1993. After they married in 1995, it took Grill five years, including a three year stay in Korea, to bring his bride to America. And still, after all that time his wife's three children had to stay behind in the Philippines.

"When we married I told my wife that as soon as I could make enough money to support the entire family I would do everything in my power to bring her kids here to live with us," said Grill, a truck driver from Michigan. "Then just this past summer we determined our monetary means were sufficient enough so I got on the phone with my immigration lawyer to see what the next step was to reunite my wife with her kids."

Planning on at least two years before any real move could be made to bring the children to America; Grill thought he had time to save for a down payment on a house big enough to fit the growing family. However, panic hit when the immigration lawyer informed Grill that two of the three kids could be here in as little as six months to a year.

"At the time we were renting a very small two-bedroom one bath house where the garage was bigger than the house," said Grill. "It was good enough for my wife, our daughter and me but not enough for five people."

Regardless of his current living arrangements, Grill asked the immigration lawyer to send in all the paper work and to begin the process of bringing the kids to America. He then began to look at four bedroom houses and soon realized renting that big of a home would drain the financial resources he had saved to provide for the children once they arrived.

"When I recognized renting a larger home was impossible I thought that my last hope was buying, but I didn't have the down payment nor did I have family I could borrow the money from," said Grill. "Then I remembered seeing these signs years ago in the yards of homes for sale announcing an organization called Buyers Fund-Neighborhood Gold and down payment grants."

Knowing he had to do something right away he logged onto the internet and located a Realtor who was familiar with the Buyers Fund-Neighborhood Gold Down Payment Assistance program. Within days of contacting the Realtor, Grill became pre-approved for a mortgage loan, found a five-bedroom two bath home within his means and received a down payment grant from Buyers Fund-Neighborhood Gold.

"It was like I was living in another world," said Grill. "I was at a loss for words when I thought about how there really are people out there willing to help."

The Grill family moved into their new home just in time for this holiday season. And although this year the Grill family will still be apart, a new home waiting to be filled awaits the children next Christmas.

"I am very humbled when I look at our new home," said Grill. "I couldn't have done this alone and this wouldn't be possible without Buyers