For Our Families

The Ynocente Family Portchester, NY The Diaz Family Yonkers, NY The Rivera Family Yonkers, NY Irene and Baltasar Ondo Mt.Vernon, NY Julio and Alba Guzman Yonkers, NY Michael Hayes Yonkers, NY Rafael and Guadeloupe White Plains, NY Lillian Ossining, NY



Irene and Baltasar Ondo will soon move into their Habitat Home with their four children. Now US citizens, having emigrated from Equatorial Guinea over ten years ago, they both have worked very hard to provide for their family. Both Irene and Baltasar have worked to build the home on Cooley Place, so they are quite familiar with the materials used and the actual construction of the home. After living in an overcrowded one bedroom apartment, this three bedroom house with a front and back yard will make a huge difference in the lives of these four children and their parents.


Julio and Alba Guzman live in Yonkers, New York, with their three children. In January of this year, their two-year old daughter, Amy, was watching a video with her mother when a stray bullet from a gun shot from two blocks away randomly struck through the apartment wall. The bullet struck and injured Mrs. Guzman and killed Amy. The family was devastated. According to Mr. Guzman, "this is the worst thing that can happen." Mr. Guzman's employer phoned to ask if this family could qualify for a Habitat home. Mr. Guzman has worked for the same company for twelve years as a shipping clerk, bringing his family to New York from El Salvador for a better life. The employer described the Guzmans as exceptional people, a stable family, and conscientious and dependable workers. This spring, Julio and Alba will move into their new Habitat home and bring their children to a safer neighborhood. They will join the other eight Habitat homeowners in making sure that this is truly a wonderful place to raise their family.

	Michelle Hayes and her four children celebrate moving into their new home in a week. 500 volunteers helped build the Habitat for Humanity, Bob Vila house and in a week Michelle moved from her drug infested apartment building on School Street. Today her refrigerator is marked by her four kids' report cards, all made the honor roll.

	Rafael and Guadeloupe moved into a new home, celebrating Christmas in White Plains. Rafael, a tree surgeon, helped to pull up a wall with his cousin by climbing up the tree in his front yard, tying a rope and successfully pulling up a tree. Saturdays, you can see Rafael show his home with pride to volunteers, working on the next four houses on Fairview Avenue. "I love showing my new home to people", Rafael said.

Lillian and her three great kids moved into an Ossining home two years ago. Stivel, her son, showed Ann Fudge, CEO of Maxwell House, a tour of the home where Maxwell House had contributed to the completion of the home. Ann Fudge walked out with a script for her speech for the dedication, tore up the script with a tear in her eye saying, "Stivel showed me his new bedroom that says it all." On any given day you can see a well kept home on 72 Lafayette Avenue, not far from our two homes being completed on Hunter Street.

For Our Families

Changed Lives