Habitat for Humanity East Bay

The Gargaro Family

"Being a Habitat family and benefitting from people’s kindness has touched our hearts. We want to continue working and volunteering with Habitat because we want to support the organization that has positively affected our lives," Christian Gargaro says. "Great things are happening here and we are happy and excited to be a part of it."

Christian and his wife, Elizabeth, recently moved into their new home in Antioch. The home, previously an abandoned foreclosure, was renovated through the Antioch Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Christian, Elizabeth and their two children, Christian Jr. (3 years-old) and Selena (1 year-old) are thrilled to finally put down roots in their community. For them, community involvement is something that they embody through their work and the way they raise their family. With the stability of a home, the Gargaros intend to pursue their professional goals that until this point have been put off as an after thought due to difficult living situations. Christian, a Bay Area native, is planning to fulfill his dream of returning to school in order to pursue a career as a firefighter/paramedic. Elizabeth, whose family fled to Belize from El Salvador to escape civil war in the 1980’s, aspires to study nursing.

Aside from using their careers for good, both Elizabeth and Christian spend their free time working with community organizations. Both Christian and Elizabeth are actively involved in their community: Chris works as a District Executive with Boy Scouts of America and Elizabeth is a volunteer leader with the California Cancer and Research Institute. The family also attends Christ the King Church in Pleasanton.

Since family is central in the Gargaro home, Christian and Elizabeth look forward to hanging framed photos of them and their relatives in the entryway. “We would like to put nice framed family pictures of us and our parents and relatives in the entrance of our house so we can see them when we come in and when we leave. We would do this to remind ourselves why we got a house and of the love our parents and family have for us,” says Christian.