Warrick Dunn, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player, has continued to offer joy and security to families in Florida long after retiring from professional football.
Dunn recently donated a fully furnished two-bedroom home to single mom LaToya Reedy and her 18-year-old son in St. Petersburg through his nonprofit company, Warrick Dunn Charities, in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity.
LaToya, 39, expressed her excitement and relief to the Tampa Bay Times, stating, “Being a homeowner now, I can be at home.” LaToya was a nursing assistant who battled to make ends meet before receiving the keys to her new home. She and her son, AnTrez Reedy, had been sharing a single bedroom and alternating who slept on the bed at her mother’s home.
LaToya and her son will experience a huge adjustment with their new home. “I can be at peace,” she told the Times. “I can bring sweet memories to my house and I can have my family and my friends over. I have a home now, and that’s something that I’ve always wanted for my son, and for myself. It’s been a long, hard journey. Struggle and sacrifices, but we made it.”
LaToya is the 173rd recipient of a home from Dunn’s charity, which was inspired by Dunn’s personal narrative.
Dunn’s mother, Betty Smothers, was tragically shot to ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ during a heist when he was just a few days away from turning 18. This occurrence drove Dunn to take on the responsibility of caring for his five siblings, giving him a thorough awareness of the hardships that single mothers experience.
Dunn described his mother as “She was compassionate, she was kind, she was helpful, thoughtful. She was everything that I would want in my wife. I consider my mother to be superwoman.” Dunn’s respect and admiration for his mother’s efforts and courage has driven him to help other single parents realize their dream of homeownership. Dunn’s humanitarian effort allows him to honor his mother’s memory while also helping people in need.
