Magic Holiday Tale Unfolds as Family Gets First Home

A storybook tale will begin to unfold today on a vacant lot in Lynwood, and magically end with the final coat of paint on a poor family’s first home on the eve of Christmas.

Ramiro and Patricia Govea and their two children, ages 6 and 4, will join a platoon of Habitat for Humanity volunteers today to begin building a three- bedroom, 1,100-square-foot dream house.

The Goveas, who have been living in a rat-infested one-room apartment, were chosen for the nonprofit agency’s special “Home for the Holidays” project because they are unusually hard workers and community volunteers, said Melody McCormick, a Habitat volunteer.

“The ‘blitz-build’ is a very emotional experience for the family and the volunteers,” she says.

The agency sells the homes they build to poor families at no profit through no-interest loans. The city donated land for the project, Lynwood’s fourth Habitat home.