Da'Sean Lopez reads Bible given to his mother Miriam Lopez at Habitat for Humanity ceremony Sat., Jan. 15. Photo by Nancy Rump

Middle Township Mayor Susan DeLanzo, right, presents presents Na’Tasia Lopez, 16, with traditional bread, wine and salt to bless the new home. Photo by Nancy Rump

An emotional Shawn Lockyear, right, executive director, Habitat for Humanity in Cape May County, hugs Miriam Lopez. Photo by Nancy Rump

newest Habitat for Humanity home is on Langston Avenue in Whitesboro. The modular home was presented to Miriam Lopez and her two children, Da’Sean and Na’Tasia Sat., Jan. 15. Photo by Nancy Rump

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WHITESBORO – Miriam Lopez entertained a house full of people Sat., Jan. 15 without a stick of furniture for them to sit on.
“That’s coming Tuesday,” she joked.

“Lord, just let me get through this day,” she said in a whispered laugh as she bounced from friends and family to new neighbors, local politicians and assorted media.

The mother of two opened her new home to the Whitesboro community Jan. 15. Cars lined narrow Langston Street, bumper to bumper on the short roadway.

Everyone wanted to get a peek at the newest Habitat for Humanity house, the house Lopez and her two children now call home.

“It’s all a bit overwhelming,” said Lopez, happy to be back in her hometown.

She had been living in Woodbine, but said her heart is in Whitesboro. The 38-year-old grew up not far from where her new home now stands.

“Wildwood Avenue,” she said, standing at the large picture window in her new living room and motioning ‘that-a-way’ with her head. “Right over there.”

If there is any truth to good karma, it truly does “come around.”

Lopez grew up in the first Habitat house built in Cape May County and her mother, Luisa, still lives there.

“I told her to go for it,” said Luisa Lopez. “I said, ‘You raise two kids, you work two jobs, go through Habitat, they can help.’”
The advice paid off.

Lopez said she submitted an application and the organization called. Following an extensive interview process, she was selected to receive a home.

But the house doesn’t come without work. The applicant must put in labor “sweat equity” hours to build their home. Lopez said she was particularly fond of the painting.

“And picking out the colors,” she said.

The walls were painted warm, neutral colors, but some vivid purple could be seen adorning a bedroom in the rear of the home.
The house is modular construction. Lopez said it arrived in parts and was put up quickly.

“I blinked, it was done,” she said.

The mother of son, Da’Sean, 8, and daughter, Na’Tasia, 16, said she wisely chose a three bedroom, two baths model. This way, as her son gets older, he’s not going to have to wait for two girls to be done in the bathroom, she said.

Shawn Lockyear, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Cape May County, said she was wanted to see Da’Sean playing football on the home’s large front yard soon.

Despite snow on the ground, she didn’t have to wait long. Da’Sean, two friends, and a football were outside soon after the presentation of gifts and keys.

Middle Township Mayor Susan DeLanzo presented the family with bread, salt and wine, the most traditional of housewarming gifts. The gesture was taken from the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and follows this simple mantra: bread that no one in the house may go hungry, salt that life may always be filled with flavor, and wine that joy and prosperity may reign forever in the home.

Keys were given to all three family members. They also received a Holy Bible and family friend Chris Pelzer led everyone in prayer, blessing the house and hoping that it would soon become a home.

Pelzer grew up with Lopez. He called his friend’s dual homecoming and house warming and “extraordinary event to say the least.”

“The whole experience is just great for the community,” said the Whitesboro native. “I have to hand it to Shawn and everyone at Habitat for all the hard work. They did a great job.”

Pelzer also had a big hand in the home’s final stages of construction. His Avantgarde Painting and Decorating team helped Lopez pick the color scheme and paint the walls. About 20 area businesses donated time, labor and products to the effort.

“I got her painting too,” Pelzer said of Lopez. “I was showing her how to cut in and use a roller. She did pretty good.”
Lopez’ home is the 11th Habitat house built in the county. Mostly all have been constructed in Middle Township’s Whitesboro section.

The township donated the Langston Street lot.

Neighbor Loretta Carey was thrilled to see it put to good use.

“I came out everyday and watched the house go up, waiting to welcome my new neighbors,” she said.

Carey has lived at the intersection of Gibbs and Langston streets for 23 years, roughly half her life since relocating from Alabama. She was out early Saturday morning clearing the road of ice, anticipating a large crowd for the open house.

Carey said the site of Lopez’ new home formerly housed an abandoned building.

“It was dangerous,” she said, “and inviting for the wrong reasons.”

Carey believed it was an old church.

“But the time for it be a historical site had long since come and gone,” she said. “It was in terrible shape.”

A similar building still sits at the end of Langston Street, covered with brush and nearly falling to the ground. There was talk Saturday of Habitat building a home there as well, sometime in the near future.

“Amen to that,” Carey said.

In the meantime, she said, she’s looking forward to helping her new neighbors get settled in. As a local substitute teacher, she’s already taught Da’Sean in a few classes.

The Lopez family expected to move in yesterday, the day after the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.