As Osei Nyahuma walked through his new house with his four children, he gazed at the new furniture, new furniture he never thought he'd own, through tear-filled eyes. Walking with him was the man responsible for this next step in his life, former Florida State and current Atlanta Falcons running back Warrick Dunn.

It was a program of the Warrick Dunn Foundation, "Homes for the Holidays," that brought Dunn, Nyahuma, his family and dozens of supporters to Nyahuma's new home in the Tallahassee Highlands subdivision. The program, with the help of Big Bend Habitat for Humanity, Aaron Sales and Lease Ownership and Prudential Tropical Realty, made Nyahuma the first single father and first person in Tallahassee assisted by "Homes for the Holidays."

Nyahuma's home, sponsored by Big Bend Habitat for Humanity's "25th Anniversary Build," required him and his family to complete 400 "sweat equity" hours of work on the house.

"It was overwhelming, unbelievable," Nyahuma said of his first tour of the house. "It was like a long journey and finally reaching the end of that journey. It's a feeling I can't describe."

Nyahuma, a FSU employee, had gone through much to get to this point. He had at times slept in homeless shelters, bus terminals and his van.

"I never thought I would be able to own a home," he said. "It's a good feeling."

"Homes for the Holidays" has assisted 74 families with new homes in cities close to Dunn's heart – his hometown of Baton Rouge, La., his college town of Tallahassee and the towns of his two NFL teams, Tampa and Atlanta. Dunn started this program as a tribute to his mother, Betty Smothers, a police officer and security guard, who was killed during a robbery attempt in Baton Rouge.

Even on the 74th house, Dunn said the sight of watching a family walk through their new home for the first time is unforgettable.

"It's priceless," Dunn said. "Until you experience one, you can't get the full effect. For me, each emotion, each time you go through it is priceless and it's something I can cherish for the rest of my life."

Recipients are qualified through the nonprofit programs and must complete all requirements to be eligible for consideration. Through the program, Dunn provides the down payment on a home selected by a single parent associated with an approved nonprofit affordable home ownership program. As Nyahuma sat at his new dinner table to sign the papers for his new home, Dunn was standing beside him, the down payment check in his hand.

Dunn said he had wanted to extend this program to Tallahassee for a long time, and Tallahassee embraced him, as FSU gave him its Circle of Gold Award. He also really wanted to present a home to a single father.

"I just think there are a lot of men across the country who are stepping up and doing all they can to take care of their families," he said. "Not everyone's going to be in corporate America. Some men will be making $25,000 trying to take care of their own. To help those men to get to a point in their lives where they can have somewhere they can call home and be stable, to me, that's just helping those guys."

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