Habitat for Humanity helps families build and maintain homes of their own, making affordable housing a reality for many. Ralph Adamo involved himself in several projects for this non-profit organization over the past decade, including a project in San Juan Capistrano, whereby dozens of military and low-income families built their own homes with assistance from trained professionals and other volunteers in exchange for an affordable initial down payment.
Ralph had a hands-on role in aiding the construction of these homes, alongside those who would eventually move into them once the building had finished. Members of the families eligible for these homes were required to put in 500 mandatory hours of ‘sweat equity’ which included physical labor such as drilling, hammering, and painting. Supervised by trained professionals, Ralph and the other volunteers built the houses from the ground up with their own hands and transformed them into finished homes that these families were able to move into once work was complete.
Most of the new homeowners were employed and had school-aged children, yet never could have dreamed of being able to buy their own homes. Ralph takes immense pride in knowing that he helped turn deserving, yet struggling, families’ dreams into a tangible reality. These moments were especially clear on the emotional days that the newly completed homes were finally turned over to the families.
Habitat for Humanity Orange County is delighted to announce that they have never had to foreclose on any of their homeowners in the history of the organization and continue to work with people like Ralph to build homes for families in need.
