A street in Escondido is now filled with eleven new homes and eleven very grateful families.
“This is our home. This is a place that we have the dignity of paying mortgage,” Al Lejarde, a Marine veteran told NBC7. “And just to be able to pay down 10 years instead of paying a landlord – this will be our home.”
San Diego Habitat for Humanity helped open the doors for people like the Lejarde family.
Lejarde and his wife live with his mother-in-law and are expecting their first child early next year.
“[It] inspires my family to say...not only be thankful but also to share this opportunity and our story to other families...saying that you could be here with us for thanksgiving in a community like this,” Lejarde said.
He said the house means the world to his family – to be able to have a sense of security and for his son to grow up there.
Habitat for Humanity sells affordable homes to families earning between 50 and 80% of the area’s median income – but each family here worked for their home by helping build theirs and their neighbor’s.
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“All of these families have to put in 500 hours of sweat equity; It's really their down payment to help build their own homes,” Lori Pfeiler, Executive Director at San Diego Habitat for Humanity explained.
“Now we have a safe home to have Thanksgiving, Christmas,” Lejarde said.
Each of the homes is 1,300 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths.
During this holiday season Al and his wife Kristin are not only grateful but are eager to help open the doors for others.
“It inspires us more to give back. There's more families out here who are struggling, more families out here whose lives would change.”
