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BROWNSVILLE — On a green morning laced with sunlight and the shimmer of blue of the sky, a house waited to be built.
Somewhere in Brownsville a family waited for its home to be built, and Tuesday morning Habitat for Humanity Rio Grande Valley and city officials — including Mayor John Cowen — gathered in a vacant lot to begin its latest project: a new house for a family to make a home.
“I’m very proud to say that we are breaking ground for the brand new home, and it’s called the Lillian home,” said Mariano “Bean” Ayala, executive director for Habitat for Humanity Rio Grande Valley.
Ayala was referring to Lillian Hollabaugh who died in 2018 at the age of 98. She was a charter member of the Unity Church of Brownsville, said Judith Morales, a member of the church.
As she spoke of the late Lillian Hollabaugh, she used the word “transition” when referring to her death as is the practice in the Unity Church.
“She was so very beloved,” Morales said in the shade of the canopy on the lot at 2875 Naranjo St. Shovels stood behind a mound of dirt waiting for the official groundbreaking.
“She was actually such a wonderful representation of Unity principles, one of them which, to me the major one, is that we are one,” Morales said. “Lillian lived that principle; she lived the principles of love and kindness and inclusivity.”
So strong was her influence among her peers that, upon her passing, her “transition”, the church wanted to something special to honor her.
“Actually another person who has now made her transition, Nana Kendall, said, ‘Why don’t we do something with Habitat for Humanity in honor of Lillian?’” Morales recalled. “Nana contributed heavily to that, so this is really in honor of both Lillian and Nana. We are delighted and honored to see this happening and manifest for both Lillian and Nana.”
And certainly that honor would bestow the more practical applications of a house for a low-income family.
“We’re in the process of find a family,” Ayala said. “They’re applying, and we’re still accepting applications.”
How it works: “Once we receive qualified families,” Ayala said, “let’s say we have 20 or 30 families that are applying. We have a selection committee that’s made up of business people from throughout the Valley. They will review the applications and from there they will make a selection.”
Ayala further explained Habitat of Humanity uses a scale showing the annual income a one-child family can make and still be eligible. Same for a family of two, a family of three and so on.
Whoever qualifies will have 1,178 square feet of space with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Giving the invocation for the event Tuesday was Habitat for Humanity Board President Nathan Wendorf, pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Harlingen. As he addressed the crowd he looked across the street and observed something familiar.
“You can actually see across the street one of our homes over a decade I believe that was built,” he said.
Indeed, the bare structure that had been when it was first constructed was now a home with manicured carpet grass and a bicycle and a truck in the driveway and a small oak tree next to an iron fence.
