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The first guests in the living room of their three-bedroom residence were corporate and government guests.
The occasion: the ribbon cutting for a 1,900-square-foot home that took six corporate sponsors and 750 volunteers to build over 13 months.
“Everything will change now like day and night,” said Geovana Pimentel, a substitute teacher in Paterson schools who is originally from Costa Rica.
Her husband, originally from Peru, has worked at a Carlstadt factory since 1994.
The couple has two children – Alexander, 8, and Brenda, 5.
Their little apartment in Elmwood Park is very tight, according to Geovana Pimentel.
“Now we have a house,” she said. “There’s going to be peace in our minds.”
Alexander, an avid reader, loves learning about presidents of the United States. But he finds it difficult to get space enough to read.
“I told him in the house he will have his own room – his own special place to read and enjoy,” Geovana Pimentel said.
“But he also has to play together with Brenda, too, and be part of the family.”
The Pimentels were chosen from more than 100 candidates.
In her remarks, Julia Orlando, director of the Bergen County Housing, Health and Human Services Center, said the couple has the best credit rating she’s ever seen.
Msgr. Richard Arnhols, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, five blocks away, gave the blessing.
He invited the family to attend church at his parish.
“This is especially meaningful to me since we were homeless a few times growing up,” said Assemblyman Tim Eustace (D-Paramus, Lodi).
Sen. Bob Gordon (D-Fair Lawn) lauded the effort, too.
Now is the time, he said, for the state of New Jersey to get serious about building affordable housing – including multiple-unit projects – for residents on a mass scale.
The home is environmentally designed and Energy Star certified.
The Pimentel family will move in in a few weeks.
Habitat Bergen will close on a Washington Township property at the end of this month for its next project, according to Jacey Raimondo, executive director.
The project will feature four units – two for veterans, two for senior citizens.
Volunteers will be needed, she said.
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