They’re In!
by Natalie Rotman (writer for the Nashua Telegraph)
On Friday March 26th 1999, our two Tolles Street families closed on their GNHFH condex! By Saturday night, both families were sleeping in their new homes. The closing was very exciting. There were lots of smiles and hugs and signatures! And even some last minute excitement as Rick Ruo of GNHFH worked quickly to get the final copy of the occupancy certificate to the closing table, and we worked through the intricacies of the condex agreement. Thank you to Attorneys Bob Shepard, Brenda Smith-Weiss, and Ernest Jette for their excellent services and to Venus of the Nashua Soup Kitchen for translating the closing discussions into Spanish for us.
Just after the closing, I snapped a picture of one of the children as she literally jumped for joy when I told her that her parents now own their Habitat home! And as I left one families apartment, I heard whoops of joy through the door as they celebrated their first day as home owners and their last day of apartment living.
Over the weekend, both families moved in and began experiencing life in their own homes. Saturday night, we held a pot luck supper for the families, the volunteers, and the Habitat team members at St. Christopher’s Parish. It was a wonderfully friendly celebration. The families were absolutely glowing with pride and excitement, as were all of the people who helped them build their homes.
The ground breaking on the Tolles Street project began one year, to the day, before the closing. These two families have worked together side by side throughout the year, each contributing at more than 350 sweat equity hours to build their own homes. They’ve become friends; parents and children alike. The parents have made several joint decisions about their condexes. They’ve shopped together for fixtures, appliances, and flooring. Now they are neighbors as well as friends. The children have played together throughout the year while their parents were building their homes. And they are now schoolmates who walk to and from school together, and playmates who share their toys, their friendship and their homes.
On a recent visit, I saw a backyard filled with toys, bikes, a basketball hoop and with children from both families playing together in their own yards. Curtains were being hung, boxes were being unpacked, and homes were being created right before my eyes. I asked one of the dad’s what has been most exciting about being in their home. He said “It’s all for the kids. We often have trouble getting them in from the yard at night. At our apartment, they used to play on concrete and would stay outside for barely 1/2 hour at a time to play. Now they are out there all the time, playing in their yard.”. It was very touching to see the pride in his face – the pride of a father who has provided a home for his children. This is what Habitat for Humanity is all about.
