Morris Habitat for Humanity celebrates new Old Bridge home
OLD BRIDGE – Morris Habitat for Humanity, a major builder and leading advocate for affordable housing in New Jersey, celebrated the completion of a new home in the township with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday.
The celebration brought together the new Habitat homeowners, government officials, volunteers, donors and staff who partnered to complete the new home in the Laurence Harbor section of the township.
“This is a dream come true,” Taylor Elie said at the ceremony. “It means everything to us. Now we have an address and a place to call our own.”
The first-time homeowner and her husband, Jimmy, will share the new home with their 19-year-old daughter, Jilaya, and their 10-year-old son, Cameron. The family is moving from a cramped apartment in Queens, where they didn’t feel safe and poor conditions included mold that triggered asthma in their son.
Morris Habitat broke ground on the new home last fall and hosted several special building events that brought together hundreds of volunteers for the “Coming Home with Habitat” Panel Build last October and Women Build in June. A total of 450 volunteers donated 3,500 hours toward building the home, and the Elies put in 450 hours of their own “sweat equity.”
The new construction, ranch-style home is located on Norwood Avenue and features three bedrooms, one bath, a front porch, two-car driveway and small backyard. The home has a septic system and public water, and the property was donated by Michael Landreth.
“The Elie family is finally reaching the American Dream of home ownership,” Blair Schleicher Wilson, CEO of Morris Habitat for Humanity, said.
Wilson stressed the need for affordable homes in New Jersey, citing a study that determined the state is in need of 200,000 units of affordable housing.
Mayor Owen Henry also attended the groundbreaking and offered a warm welcome to the Elie family.
“Every family needs and deserves a place to call home and to feel welcome and safe … now you can put roots down here in Old Bridge," he said.
This is the fourth time that the mayor has joined the family for events beginning with the groundbreaking, Panel Build and Women Build events.
In 2019, after celebrating 35 years of providing safe, decent and affordable housing for families in the Morris County area, Morris Habitat for Humanity expanded by acquiring the service area of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Plainfield & Middlesex County. The acquisition effectively doubled Morris Habitat’s service area to 68 municipalities spanning 1,000 square miles in Morris, Middlesex and parts of Union and Somerset counties.
Major sponsors of the Old Bridge home include Amboy Bank, New Jersey Natural Gas, Northfield Bank Foundation, Royal Business Bank and Wells Fargo.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Morris Habitat for Humanity celebrates new Old Bridge home
