Sherry McLain recently celebrated the grand opening of her new business with family and friends.  Her business, located at 2565 W. Bancroft, Toledo, Ohio, is a full-service hair and nail salon.   

To understand just how significant this grand opening was, one must go back to 2001 and the days and months immediately following 9/11.  We will always remember the suffering and tragic loss of human life that day. While the emotional toll was immediate, I’m not sure most Americans could have predicted at that time what the economic toll would also be.

Yet, these effects were felt almost immediately by Sherry and her two children.  As a single mother who was already struggling to make ends meet, the loss of business following 9/11 was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  At that time, Sherry spent $400.00 a month renting a work station in someone else’s salon.  When business dramatically declined after the terrorist attacks, she found she could no longer make ends meet.  She either had to find a cheaper place to live or look for another line of work.  Sherry loved what she did for a living and even had dreams of one day owning her own shop.  So, when a friend offered to let Sherry and her children come and live with her, Sherry took her up on the offer.

The family moved from a house where they all had their own bedrooms to her friend’s house where Sherry and her two children all shared a single bed.  For months after 9/11, Sherry’s business continued to suffer.  Just when Sherry thought things couldn’t get much worse, the woman who had opened up her house to Sherry suddenly became the primary caregiver for her nephew and Sherry and the kids moved from the single bed to a makeshift spot on the bedroom floor.

Sherry knew she couldn’t impose on her friend any longer, so she started looking for a place to move that she could afford.  She soon found that, everywhere she went, she would have to come up with deposit money and first and last month’s rent.  She also knew she would have to pass a credit check and her status as a self-employed hair stylist would cause additional problems.  As a last resort, Sherry rented a room at a hotel with two beds and a bathroom as a short term solution to her situation – she had no idea it would be her home for the next year.

“At the lowest point, I can remember feeding my kids and myself solely on the coupons the fire department had handed out for free food at McDonald’s,” Sherry states.  “But the thing I always held on to was my faith. I believed God had a plan for my life.”

There is an old saying that states "Good things come to those who wait," and Sherry was about to find out how true that saying really was.  Through word of mouth, she found out about the Habitat for Humanity program and put her name on the list for a chance at receiving a new home.  A couple of months later, she was thrilled to learn that she had been chosen.  At one of the Habitat meetings Sherry attended, she heard about a program NODA offered called an Individual Development Account (IDA) which would match 2:1 the money that she saved in a savings account.  One of the things a participant could save toward was starting a small business.  She wasn’t sure if she would be able to save, but she was willing to give it a shot.  

In November, 2004, right before Thanksgiving, Sherry and her family moved into their new Habitat home.  By that time, she had also been steadily saving in her IDA account.  In late April, 2006, with the match dollars she received from NODA and the money she   saved in her account, Sherry was able to purchase styling chairs, countertops, and other supplies for her own shop.  She spent a few more months ironing out all the other last minute details of the business, leading up to her grand opening in October. 

Today, Sherry’s business is up-and-running and going great.  She now has five people working at her shop!  We like to think that NODA played a small part in her current success, but we know that her strength of purpose and current blessings come from a much higher power.  When you call Sherry on the phone, there is a song playing in the background and the lyrics state, “You can make it through the storm, you can make it through the rain, you can make it through the trials, you can make it through the pain.”  Then Sherry comes on with the usual phone message lingo which finally culminates with Sherry saying, “Trust in the Lord at all times and he will see you through.”  This philosophy seems to be working for Sherry and her two children Genesis and Matthew in her new shop she has named the “Master’s Touch.”

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