This Christmas will be one of the happiest for Jose Luis and Patricia Garcia and their two young daughters. On Friday, December 18 at 4:30pm, the couple was handed the keys to their very own Habitat home during a small, private home dedication ceremony.
“We are very excited to finally be moving in. Through this process we’ve learned to be very patient, so it’s even more exciting because we weren’t sure if we would be able to move in before the holidays,” says Garcia. “Our oldest, Betzabe (9), is the most excited to finally have her own room and to decorate it herself. For the holidays, we are excited to invite our family over. Where we are staying now is so small, we could never have guests over. We’re happy we can finally host our family. It's a double celebration of moving in and Christmas!”
The Garcia family home is the 300th home built by Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity in partnership with the Faith In Action committee. It is also the first Habitat home built outside city limits and on land owned by the homebuyers.
The dedication of a new Habitat home is always an emotional event for family members because it marks the end of a long process — one that started with an application to the Habitat program, continued with over 500 required hours of volunteer work, and was completed when the Garcia family became proud, mortgage-paying homeowners. For the Garcia family, it’s been a longer-than-usual wait. Construction on their home began in March, right before COVID-19 forced Habitat to temporarily suspend construction.
“Because we build homes with volunteers, the past nine months have been a challenge,” says Andy York, B/CS Habitat’s executive director. “The Garcia family has been graciously patient, so I am overjoyed to finish their house so they can be in their new home for the holidays. It will be a special Christmas for their family.”
The Garcia family home was built primarily with financial and volunteer support from the Faith in Action committee, which is made up of 16 local congregations. These churches and their members — along with generous community support — made this momentous milestone possible.
