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BROWNSVILLE — Nath in her maroon clothes and the bow in her hair laughed and danced in the morning sun.
Her mother Salma Nieves, 33, all dressed and happy, seemed infected with the pristine joy of her little girl, and her two-year-old son Tristan too.
It was a new day of hope and beginning for the family standing outside their new home at 2875 Naranja St. where Habitat of Humanity Rio Grande Valley had just completed its latest project. Representatives of Habitat, Unity Church of Brownsville and other organizations had gathered on this late Thursday morning to dedicate the home and give Nieves and her husband Jahaziel Garcia the keys.
“We’re very happy, it’s an indescribable feeling,” said Nieves as her husband Jahaziel stood strong and proud and with satisfaction that his children would now have their separate bedrooms. Previously the whole family had slept in one room.
“It is a dream come true but it’s also a goal that we have accomplished,” Nieves said. “We were in a small trailer, a very small space, and it had deteriorated.
Habitat for Humanity broke ground last year for the building of the home. There were only folding chairs beneath a tarp and a mound of dirt and then a flat field. Such a simple backdrop stood in such sharp contrast Thursday against the house with clean gray paint and white trim.
“The last time you were here we broke ground in August,” said Mariano “Bean” Ayala, executive director for Habitat of Humanity Rio Grande Valley.
“Today we are here to dedicate the home to the Nieves-Garcia family,” Ayala said. “They were the family that was selected by our family selection committee. I’m so emotional. A dream has come true for a family.”
The Unity Church of Brownsville has been heavily involved in the project. Barbara McCurdy, alternate board member, said a deceased church member left funds to be used for community work and the rest of the church took the lead.
“The rest of the congregation rallied to meet the threshold so that we could contribute to Habitat for Humanity,” McCurdy said.
She looked around now.
“The home is remarkably beautiful and I’m so happy for this beautiful family that will be taking up residence,” she said.
And Tristan and Nath and their parents all smartly dressed in power and spirit danced and jumped with the energy and the vitality of new beginnings.
