Volunteers help build home, hope

in Parsippany

VOLUNTEERS HELP  Workers who volunteered at the Habitat for Humanity work site June 11 in Parsippany pose for a photo in front of the tool trailer.

PARSIPPANY  Danielle Nicosia of St. Ann Parish here uses long vertical strokes to help paint the walls of an upstairs bedroom in a house that sits on a quiet dead-end street in Morristown. On a hot June 11 morning, sunlight streams through a large window into the room, empty except for her and her team of four other parishioners, who volunteered to paint the interior of the new residence — part of a five-unit townhouse complex that the non-profit Morris Habitat for Humanity has almost finished building.

Dipping her roller into the white paint, Nicosia — one of 16 St. Ann’s parishioners who volunteered at the Habitat for Humanity work site that day — forgets her own aches and imagines that bedroom a few weeks from now — filled with furniture, people and dreams in the making. Already, that unit will be filled with a major dream fulfilled: a poor family that can finally afford its own place.

“Even though we [St. Ann’s volunteers] will never see the new occupants, we will be part of their families. We will have something to do with the memories that they will make in these units — what a home is,” said 30-year-old Nicosia, a teacher in Parsippany. “Jesus called us not only to serve him, but also serve the less fortunate. Being Christian isn’t only about sitting in church. It’s about getting out there and acting on our faith,” she said.

The St. Ann’s volunteers beat back the heat to help to put finishing touches on the two- or three-bedroom units in suburban Morristown. They put in their “sweat equity,” dividing into three teams to tackle three tasks: painting and carpentry and landscaping. This project — which started at 8:30 a.m. and finished at 4:30 p.m. — was part of the Morris County parish’s observances of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, which the universal Church will celebrate until November, said Sister of the Church Frances Sanzo, a St. Ann’s pastoral associate.

Each unit houses bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a laundry room and a single-car garage. Morris Habitat for Humanity picked occupants by lottery and offered them an interest-free mortgage. Occupants must complete 300 “man hours” of work, which can include help from family and friends. Construction of these units began in March on what was an open piece of land and should be completed by August, said Bob Preis, Morris Habitat for Humanity’s project manager, while supervising the work that day.

“The day that we hand the keys over to the new occupants is fulfilling. It’s great to see their faces. The house is like a mansion to the kids, who are like pogo sticks — so excited,” said Preis. “These new housing units — and Habitat for Humanity — would not be possible without these volunteers.”

Inside one unit, 36-year-old Michael Morino and Joe Cistaro brandish hammers and nail guns to put up white molding around doors on the upper-floor rooms. Morino used to work in the plumbing, heating and air conditioning industry with this father. That morning, he told The Beacon that he enjoys utilizing his trade skills, which he now only uses on his house and for the benefit of friends and family.

“This [work] feels great. I love helping people out,” Morino, who now works in building automation.

Inside another unit, Nicosia leads her team — a mix of St. Ann’s parishioners from teens to seniors — as they climb ladders or crouch down painting the upper-level rooms. Meanwhile, another team of volunteers landscapes the outside in the rear and side of the new building. They plant trees and shrubs. They rake soil and dig up and remove rocks and then plant grass seed and lay down hay on a slope that will become part of the complex’s lawn.

“Today, I learned how deep and wide you need to dig a hole for a shrub,” said Lolita Vazquez, who helped publicize and coordinate St. Ann’s work at the Morristown site, which attracted parishioners as young as 16. “This has been terrific. It’s great to see the vision of Habitat for Humanity in building these houses — the only opportunity many of these folks will have to own their own homes. It’s also great that in six months, I can drive by the houses and say, ‘I planted that tree over there,’ ” she said.

As the volunteers dug into their projects at the job site, a team of adults and children, who were too young to work with Habitat for Humanity, gathered at 10 a.m. in the kitchen of St. Ann Church to make lunch for the volunteers with food that local vendors donated. An adult transported the lunches to the work site. Among those helping that morning were 10-year-old Christian Pyles and his mother, Yvonne — who both originally proposed the Habitat for Humanity project — along with the rest of their family.

“It’s the idea of community service. It’s something that the kids and other people can enjoy,” said Pyles, while another volunteer, 13-year-old Evan Vojta, remarked after bagging the lunches, “It feels good to be helping other people.”

The Habitat for Humanity work continues St. Ann’s lengthy schedule of Jubilee Year of Mercy activities, which have included drives for coats and jackets, clothing for job interviews for women and tools for the building project. The parish also sent cards to retired priests at Nazareth Village, Chester, and to residents of nursing homes and held a Holy Year Lenten mission. Religious education students collected food for the poor and visited residents in assisted living facilities, said Virginia Bissig, a St. Ann’s pastoral associate.

“The Jubilee Year of Mercy encompasses the care of everyone and the Corporal and the Spiritual Works of Mercy,” Sister Sanzo said after the lunches were shipped.

While painting with Nicosia, 16-year-old Sarah Vojta, a member of St. Ann’s youth ministry and sister of Evan, spoke about her experience in this area of home improvement: painting around the house and for stage crew at school.

“This [project] brings us closer to our faith and to our connection with God and Jesus. We also become closer as a parish by getting to know each other,” Vojta said.