DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. (WMMB) — When Shakisha McDonald woke up Tuesday morning, she thought she was getting a new house.
Little did she know, former Florida State Seminoles and Tampa Bay Bucs running back Warrick Dunn was going to make sure she got a home.
The single mother of four has never owned a home.
“I’ve lived in a house where a couple of years ago, my closet molded due to rain getting in the ceiling,” McDonald said. “And so, my clothes molded.”
Despite having her hands full with her own kids, McDonald still found time to support other kids in the community through her work as the community program director for the Boys & Girls Club of the Emerald Coast.
“I’ve gotten up every morning to go to work at Boys and Girls Club to make an impact on my community,” McDonald said. “And I did it without complaint, and without nobody knowing my story as far as what I was waking up to in the morning. So, to be able to come here, wake up here, and be able to still make that impact, especially the impact on my kids.”
McDonald’s story touched Dunn so much, he choose her to be the 210th family his foundation supported.
Dunn started the organization in remembrance of his mother, a Baton Rouge police officer who lost her life when Dunn was only 18 years old.
“She was someone that cared about her community and did a lot in the community. Her first thing wasn’t to take someone to jail. It was ‘you can do better.’ So, she challenged people,” Dunn explained.
Dunn said McDonald’s impact on the community reminds him of his mother’s.
