A home for the holidays
Organization, partners fulfill East Side family's dream of ownership
AURORA -- Last year, knowing that a milestone birthday would appear on the 2006 calendar, and hoping to steer her life in a new direction, Anna Rodriguez dropped to her knees.
"I'm going to be turning 40 pretty soon," Rodriguez thought. "So I prayed to God and said: 'I'm going to ask you for something. I want a new home for my family.'"
(Craig Watson / Staff Photographer)
(Craig Watson / Staff Photographer)
On Sunday -- at exactly 2:32 p.m. -- she was handed the key.
Tied to a red ribbon, that shimmering, gold key has officially unlocked the door to the Rodriguez family future.
Thanks to the Fox Valley Habitat for Humanity, Thrivent Financial and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church -- along with about 400 volunteers -- the gray-sided, three-bedroom home at 27 Webster St. on Aurora's near East Side now belongs to the single mom and her three sons.
Built in just 13 weeks, the house was dedicated Sunday to the Rodriguezes during an emotional ceremony -- complete with heartfelt renditions of O Come, All Ye Faithful and Silent Night -- in which more than 50 people attended.
"If that didn't touch you," Chuck Rhodes, coordinator of the Good Shepherd work crews, said, "I don't know what will."
Thrivent Financial provided 70 percent of the money for building materials, with Habitat for Humanity chipping in 20 percent, and Good Shepherd the other 10. Other area Lutheran churches provided financial assistance, as well.
Rodriguez is responsible for paying the 20-year mortgage, but she'll do so with a zero-percent interest rate. The closing is scheduled for next week.
Costs for supplies are estimated at $120,000 and the total property value is assessed at about $165,000, so Rodriguez will gain instant equity, Jeff Barrett, executive director of Habitat for Humanity, said.
"This is a temple," Barrett said, "a dwelling that was built in faith."
Soon after making her prayerful plea, Rodriguez spotted an ad in The Beacon News, explaining Habitat for Humanity's application process. She thought, "Wow, that sounds pretty cool," and filled out the required paperwork. On March 15, Barrett and Nancy Huntington, who is on the Habitat selection committee, arrived at Rodriguez's apartment.
"I'll never forget that date," Rodriguez said. "They told me that they'd have to go before the (Habitat) board, but couldn't tell me how long it would take. Two days later, I got a call from Nancy, who said, 'Guess what -- we're going to build you a home!' I was at work and started crying -- I couldn't even talk."
Volunteer crews broke ground in September. They worked Thursdays and Saturdays -- 8-hour shifts -- until the house and two-car garage were completed. Rodriguez and her son Joseph, a 16-year-old junior at East Aurora High School, pitched in relentlessly. Her other sons -- Alex, 12, and Michael, 7 -- weren't allowed on the construction site because of their ages.
On Sunday, after the dedication, the younger boys were rolling around in their bedroom, "the one with the blue carpet," Michael said.
The boys hope to get bunk beds, and have already made decisions on where their Spiderman game and Xbox system will reside.
Asked about their new house, the boys each used one word to explain their wide smiles.
Michael: "Cool."
Alex: "Happy."
After years of dueling with tile, plumbing, window and landlord problems, Anna Rodriguez decided, "I wanted something else for these guys."
At the March 15 meeting, which took place at the family's old East Side apartment, Barrett recalled all three boys gathered around the table with their mom, explaining how life would be so much better someplace else. He was amazed by their passion and their yearning for better surroundings, the thought of one day not having to sidestep shattered glass that was prevalent in their old back yard.
"I remember walking down all those stairs -- there must have been 20 of them," Barrett said. "I said, 'Man, if we don't build them a home, there's something wrong with us.'"
For Joseph Rodriguez -- the soft-spoken man of the family at age 16 -- seeing his mom cry happy tears is better than anything gift-wrapped this Christmas season.
"She's had hard times ... she's gone through a lot," Joseph said. "I think this will be good for her. For all of us."
