For one Morgan Hill family, it was a day they will never forget
thanks to Silicon Valley
’s Habitat For Humanity group.
For one Morgan Hill family, it was a day they will never forget thanks to Silicon Valley’s Habitat For Humanity group.
Richard Villagomez and his wife Adres lived 12 years with their sons Cesar, 16, Richard, 12, and Eric, 3, in a cramped 35-foot long travel trailer off Monterey Road. On a Saturday earlier this month, they were given the keys to their new home at 157 N. Eighth St. in San Jose.
A 100-year-old Queen Ann Victorian Home with 1,200 square-feet and three bedrooms was remodeled in 77 days, by more than 100 Habitat volunteers, said Robert Freiri, executive director of Silicon Valley Habitat for Humanity.
Volunteers and committee members attended the dedication ceremony.
“Habitat for Humanity has remodeled this home and our lives for a better future,” Cesar Vilagomez said. “We have a kitchen to cook in, a place to relax, and now a place to call home.”
“I am so excited to move in to our new home, and I will get my own room for the first time ever,” his brother Richard said.
Every day since January different groups of volunteers came to the site to help with the restoration.
Sophomore Travis Chun, 16, helped with the lumber, nailing and painting as a part of 25 community service hours he need for graduation from Mity School in San Jose.
Flo and Wes Harrison stood proud sporting T-shirts with a picture of their construction team. They were part of a group that helped every Thursday organized by Good Samaritan United Methodist Church, a major financial sponsor of the project.
The entire Vilagomez family also participated in the restoration process and helped every Saturday and Sunday, seven hours each day.
“I helped with the painting, fixed the roof and helped install the cabinets,” said Richard Sr.
Even the children’s 81-year-old grandfather Juses Hernandez helped with painting.
There is heart in all areas of this project, Freiri said.
The Silicon Valley Habitat for Humanity group endeavors to help low-income families build and own homes. The group has helped renew 25 homes in the last 16 years in the Silicon Valley area.
The reason the Vilagomez family was selected for this new home was because they had such horrible living conditions, said Pamela Brotherton, who works on the selection committee.
The selection process is very hard, Brotherton said, and it took six months to finally select the Morgan Hill family.
The family will pay small monthly payments with no interest over the next 30 years. Those payments will be used in the future to build homes for other families in need.
After the ceremony ended Adres Vilagomez proudly shook hands with all of the volunteers as they entered her new home.
“This is a dream come true,” she said. “Now my children can have a brighter future.”
