Amy Lopez update: Family of 5 moves into new apartment, needs basics

Amy Lopez cooks dinner alongside Kiana Young, 7, at their former home in Austin. The Lopez family has since moved into a roomier affordable housing community but they need basic items to fill the home like bed frames, mattresses and kitchen items.

Amy Lopez and her four kids are enjoying settling to their new, larger, safer home in North Austin.

Lopez, who parents her kids — 15-year-old Major, 12-year-old Aliyha, 11-year-old Paris and 7-year-old Kiana — solo, has been applying for housing assistance since 2002, and her latest round of funding just ran out. But it hasn’t stopped her from pursuing a better life for her children, whose father isn’t in the picture.

The Lopez family is one of 12 families featured in the Statesman's Season for Caring program, which highlights the needs of people in our community and raises funds to help these families as well as hundreds of others through local nonprofits. Lopez was nominated by Foundation for the Homeless.

Since the American-Statesman last checked in with Lopez, she and her kids moved up the street to an affordable housing community that allows her to give her family more space while still letting her rebuild her credit score as she works toward moving into a house.

“The kids love it,” Lopez said, saying the apartments are “brand new, very spacious … better, bigger and well worth it” for her family.

But the family is still in need of assistance to fill up that spacious apartment with must-need items for Lopez and the kids.

Major still needs a desk, Lopez said, and she needs a mattress for herself and a bed frame and bunk bed for the girls. The kids enjoy playing video games, so Nintendo Switch and PlayStation consoles would help bring them together, and other necessities like bath towels, skin care items and electric toothbrushes will assist with personal hygiene. The family also still needs a Christmas tree just weeks ahead of the holiday.

The family has been living in an apartment for the past two years after some time experiencing homelessness and living in a shelter, so assistance getting many of the basics — cookware, a blender, clothes — will help Lopez put money toward the rent on the new apartment and work toward finding a more permanent stable home for her family.

To find out more about the family or to give an item on the wish list, contact Foundation for the Homeless. 512-453-6570, foundationhomeless.org.

The Statesman is sharing the stories of all 12 Season for Caring families through Jan. 31. Donations will be matched up to $500,000 by Brian Sheth. On Saturday, P. Terry's is donating 100% of the profits at its Central Texas restaurants to Season for Caring. Find more stories at statesman.com/seasonforcaring.

You can donate online or use the coupon on Page 2B and mail it to Austin Community Foundation, c/o Statesman Season for Caring, 4315 Guadalupe St., Suite 300, Austin, TX 78751. Make checks payable to “Statesman Season for Caring.”