KNOXVILLE, Iowa — A mom in Knoxville got a sweet surprise on Tuesday. Habitat for Humanity gifted Nikole Cunningham with her dream home. But, that’s not the only surprise she received.

When Nikole arrived at her new home on July 11th, she found NFL great Warrick Dunn in the driveway, delivering a life-changing surprise in the form of a $5,000 down-payment assistance check and $10,000 worth of furnishings from Aaron’s! 

While the new homes are earned and financed through Habitat for Humanity, Aaron’s provides $10,000 worth of home furnishings, turning an empty shell into a move-in ready dream home on day one. Additionally, WDC delivers a $5,000 down-payment assistance check and ensures the home is fully stocked.

A lifelong Knoxville resident, Nikole is widely known and loved in the community. When she isn’t working for her family’s financial services business, she is busy taking care of her four-year-old daughter Kenndal, who suffers from a physical disability. Given that the current living arrangement had lots of stairs and no wheelchair accessibility, it was quickly becoming an untenable situation for Kenndal. With her new handicap-accessible home from Habitat, Nikole can take much better care of Kenndal and focus on addressing the rest of her family’s needs.

 “The biggest worry in life with, no idea how I’m gonna get Kenndal around,” said Nikki. “Obviously she can’t walk so she’s wheelchair-bound for now. My old house had steps everywhere. It was just a worry I didn’t know what I was gonna do.”

This whole thing involved a little bit of deception on the part of Habitat, The Dunn Foundation, and Nikki’s family. Her Dad said he learned last November, that this day would come. So, since Cunningham was so involved in working on her house, she was there daily, so how to get the “surprise” furnishings and supplies in? Her Grandparents insisted on a girls trip for four days to Lake of the Ozarks. And when she got back from her trip, they would not let her near the house, until today.

When Nikki is not working, or taking care of her daughter, she’s on TikTok, where she has over half a million followers. She recently posted some of her trip to Lake or the Ozarks on her account. Find Nickole Cunningham on TicTok here.