Doing Extreme Makeover: Home Edition was an experience that has forever changed our lives. In the end, the Marrero's have a place they now call "home", a place with beds, food on the table, a sanctuary for each member of the family, and most importantly a new start. But as with many things in life, it is the journey that defines the experience, not the destination
Going into an experience like this, you never know what to expect. Are we going to be able to pull this off? Will we have enough help? What if something goes wrong? But working with the crew from Extreme Makeover, our company, our trade partners, and our amazing volunteers, we accomplished everything we set out to do and more. We are overwhelmed with both a sense of pride at having accomplished our goals and a deep humility at having been a part of something larger than all of us.
Our company was thrilled to help, giving their time and energy to work around-the-clock shifts. Our vendors and trade partners were lining up to give more and more time, services, materials, expertise... whatever they could. The amazing members of the Camden, Pennsauken, and South Jersey communities gave their love and strength to support the build for 7 straight days.
Of course, the experience was made that much more special because the patriarch of our family and the founder of our company, Jirair S. Hovnanian, was there to see it all happen. As an immigrant to this country himself, he has always appreciated America as the "Land of Opportunity." Over and over, upon seeing the enormity of the task at hand, and seeing the success with which his family and his company were accomplishing it, he would remind all of us: Only in America. Only in America could you rally 3,000 people to build a house in 4 days for a family who needed it. Only in America could you broadcast the whole effort in a way that will inspire others to do the same around the country. Only in America could you make something out of nothing, and give a family and a community a new start.
His undying love for his country is rivaled only by the pride he felt when he helped welcome the Marrero family home. Little did we know, it would be his final act. Jirair S. Hovnanian passed away 3 days after we moved the bus, but his lesson stays with us: if you work hard enough, dream big enough, and love strongly enough, anything and everything is possible.
Garo D. Hovnanian
J.S. Hovnanian & Sons
www.HOVhomes.com
