Memorial Epworth mental health tech understands the healing power of home

A home isn’t just a house. It’s a place to nurture your family. A place to feel safe. A foundation for a stable life.

Kaniece Davidovic, a mental health tech who has worked at Beacon Health for nearly 14 years, knows that. Five years ago, she had faith that she could improve life for herself and her children – Kaylin, KeyShawn and Kahmani – if she could move the family into a better place than the crowded apartment where they were living.

Habitat for Humanity could be the answer, she thought. The Habitat organization helps families thrive by partnering with them to build or improve housing. Kaniece applied to their program several times, but she didn’t meet the income guidelines. Meanwhile, their home was burglarized in broad daylight.

Kaniece’s oldest daughter, Kaylin, had come up with a plan. She would help her mom work toward their goals by using her own pay to cover groceries and other household expenses. Kaniece’s salary would cover rent, with any extra going toward a housing fund.

Together, they’d create a better environment for themselves and Kaylin’s two younger siblings. It was a good plan.

And then, one day in 2017, Kaniece got the worst phone call of her life. Kaylin had been murdered. She was just 21 years old.

A state of shock

During the dark days following the news, Kaniece withdrew. Her phone was constantly ringing, but she didn’t want to talk to anyone. She didn’t want to tell the story. “I was living every parent’s worst nightmare,” she said.

Her phone was filling up with voice messages while she cleaned house to distract herself. Finally, she decided to go through the messages just to clean the phone out, and one of the messages was from Habitat for Humanity. She was asked to go to the Habitat offices to discuss her latest application.

But after everything she’d been going through, Kaniece wasn’t about to risk being disappointed. “I had had so much taken away … I wasn’t going to go and be rejected again,” she said.

Her colleagues at Memorial Epworth Center, who had been checking on her frequently, encouraged her to go to the meeting. Just talk to the Habitat for Humanity folks, they said. The worst that could happen was she be told ‘no.’

The turning point

After repeated encouragement, Kaniece was convinced to take a chance. She went to the Habitat offices and accepted a thick book outlining what she had to do, which included hundreds of hours of training and working on other houses. It was almost overwhelming.

“In reality, I knew who I was doing it for – I wanted to give my kids something better,” Kaniece said.

Her decision to move forward with the program did even more than help with housing.

“I had all this hurt in my heart. When I started volunteering, it was kind of therapeutic,” she explained. The volunteering and training requirements kept her extremely busy, and her colleagues at Memorial ensured she had the flexibility in her schedule to complete the program.

Plus, she had some amazing helpers at her build site, part of an entirely new neighborhood in Mishawaka.

“I had President Carter on my build. I was able to meet him and his wife. Tricia Yearwood, she donated some pots and pans. Garth Brooks worked on the house catty-corner from mine. Jay Leno worked on the house next door. Mayor Buttigieg helped with my garage,” Kaniece said.

She also had a chance to meet the architect who designed her house, LeRoy Troyer. Her house is right by the intersection of Carter Street and Troyer Street. She and her kids moved into their new home in 2018.

It certainly seems like this was meant to be – in fact, there’s a strange coincidence at work, a unifying thread that weaves its way through Kaniece’s story: Kaniece was born on September 15. The last time she saw her daughter Kaylin was also on September 15. Kaylin was killed at 8:15 a.m. on November 15. And the family’s new house number is 1515.

Whether through faith, magic or hard work (or all three), Kaniece has achieved her goal of giving her children a better home.

“At the end of the day, I was proud because I did it,” Kaniece said. “Knowing it’s something I could pass down to my kids, I’m speechless about it.”

The lessons she learned as part of her experience will stay with her wherever she goes. “I would do it all over again,” she said. “I got blessed when I went through tragedy, and they turned it around for me.”