Now a family, Robin’s Apartments residents celebrate one year

With her children in a foster home and no place to go, Kandice Hamel almost gave up.

Today, Hamel, a 32-year-old in recovery, has a new life — one with her children and her partner, Christine Dixon. Living at Robin’s Apartments, 2303 First St., for the past four months has allowed Hamel to bring the entire family together, including children Tyler, 8, Skyler, 5, and Sarah, who is almost 2 months old.

“To me, it’s not Bradenton,” Hamel said Wednesday in her home at Robin’s Apartments. “It’s a different place here. ...We decided to build our family together.”

On Wednesday, Robin’s Apartments had a celebration to mark its one-year anniversary. The first residents moved into the former Knights Inn last July after the new owner transformed the units into furnished apartments with water, electricity, cable and internet for $650 a month.

While some of the 240 units are still being renovated, 97 percent of the available units are occupied, according to Vallerie Guillory, who manages the apartments with her husband, Scott Claar.

“It was really rough for us in the beginning, but since then, we have really cultivated our community,” Guillory said. “It’s turned into a really beautiful space.”

Robin’s Apartments residents gathered in the community center — what Guillory calls the “heartbeat” of the community — as representatives from Vengroff Williams came to present Trinity Without Borders, a local nonprofit operated at the apartments, with $15,000.

“Trinity really strikes us as one that does a lot of good for the community,” said Travis Vengroff, who is on the board of Vengroff Williams. “Their live-learn-earn philosophy, it’s empowering people to empower themselves.”

This has been the case for 25-year-old Patience Nelson, who has lived and worked at Robin’s Apartments for two months. Growing up in foster care, Nelson said she never had a family until Robin’s Apartments.

“Everyone cares about each other,” she said. “It’s like a family and I’ve never had that before, and I love it.”

Before moving into Robin’s Apartments a year ago, Lori Carpenter, 53, was living with her daughter, Courtney, in a van for seven months. When Carpenter found out she no longer had to live in a van, she was “all tears.”

“This is our home,” Carpenter said. “Now this is our family. ...It’s very special here. I was like God finally answered my prayers.”

As Manatee County children return to school Thursday, a new program at Robin’s Apartments will get underway. Called HUGS, or Helping Us Grow Strong, there will be a before-school and after-school program at the community center. The program will also give the children a place to go on days off from school, said Christal Murdock, 41, who home-schools her daughter Sarah, 11.

“It’s really just about unity and helping and making sure no one is left behind,” Murdock said.

This story was originally published August 9, 2017 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Now a family, Robin’s Apartments residents celebrate one year."