Antioch Dedication
On Saturday, July 21st, nearly 100 Habitat for Humanity East Bay volunteers, supporters and homeowners along with City officials, including Mayor Donald Frietas and corporate sponsors gathered to hand keys to two new homeowners at the site known as West Rivertown in Antioch.
With land donated by the City and partnerships with the Antioch Development Agency, Bank of the West, Contra Costa County, Federal Home Loan Bank, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the State of California and the CalHome Development Program, the occasion also marked the successful completion of the four-home development. Two of the homes were completed in December 2006 thanks to home sponsors, Coldwell Banker and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. PG&E Governmental Relations Representative Tom Guarino presented a $60,000 check representing their generous contribution of solar panels on each home.
The Saied family home was sponsored by Habitat East Bay’s own All Women’s Crew which also did much of the construction on the house, and was well represented at the event. Political refugees from Afghanistan, Sam Saied and his family, lived in the Bay Area for 25 years before finding Habitat. “It was hard for us to buy a house on the open market,” said Sam, who works as an Accounts Clerk for Contra Costa Count. His wife Lailuma (“Laila”) stays busy caring for their three children, two teenagers and a one- year-old. Laila also volunteers regularly in the children’s schools. When asked what will be the first thing they will hang on the walls of their home, Sam replied: “A family picture. That’s the best thing in my life.” Now that ‘best thing’ has a safe, stable home to call their own.
The appropriately named “House Built on Faith”, sponsored by a large group of faith communities in Contra Costa County, went to the Sanchez-Luna Family who had come to the United States from Mexico in search of a better life for their family. Before being selected to purchase a home of their own through Habitat, the six members of the Sanchez-Luna Family lived in a trailer with only two bedrooms. Domingo, who works as a forklift driver while Maria cares for their four children, put it best when he said: “Significa un mejor futuro para la familia.” In other words – a Habitat house means a better future for the Sanchez-Luna Family. “Now that we have a Habitat house,” he adds in Spanish, “our dream is to keep working hard like we always have – but actually be able to get somewhere and improve our lives.”Marsha Harris a longtime member of the Covenant Congregation Committee recalled that “people of many faiths had come together today to bless the land at the start of the project and they poured lot of love and enthusiasm into the construction.”
