The Briggs, Osborne & Martinez Home Dedication In City of Lynwood

My name is Alison Mullin and I work for Starfish-Pr, Habitat for Humanity of Greater L.A.'s (HFH GLA) P.R. company. Through my work at Starfish I have been working with HFH GLA for close to a year now and I have been to many events where I have pinched myself and thought is it really possible that there is an organization like this that brings so many good people together to do good for so many good families. But after every event including the Gala in October, the Gaxiola Family build day in December, Power Women, Power Tools in May, someone has said to me, "Nothing compares to a Home Dedication, where the families receive the keys to their new homes."

This past Saturday I went to my first Home Dedication and witnessed the Briggs, Martinez and Osborne families get the keys to their new homes in City of Lynwood. Now, I can truly understand the power of what HFH GLA does; they bring visible and palpable joy to people by working with them to build what should never be taken for granted - a home.

A home, especially in this city, is not something that is easy to come by. Especially when you are a single mother like April Briggs and DaJuan Osborne, or have a son with cerebral palsy like Guadalupe and Lorena Martinez.

At this Home Dedication, HFH GLA had someone close to the HFH GLA partner family introduce them to the audience and this gave so much insight into what great people these three families are. April's brother, a student at UCSB, talked about how his sister was his role model and provider (and a fine cook!) - often sacrificing her paycheck to buy him shoes and school supplies. DaJuan's grandmother talked about how DaJuan had dreamed of owning her own home by the age of 30 since she was a little girl and the Martinez family's pastor talked about how Lorena and Guadalupe would pray for a better place to live everyday.

You definitely had to be there to experience the literal joy of everyone that day, but hopefully these pictures will give you an idea. Just remember - truly happy people make beautiful pictures.