USA (MNN) — Martha Rosales lost her life to cancer two years ago. On Tuesday, her prayers for her family were
answered when her husband and six children moved into a new home.
Volunteers
from First Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN helped Buckner International build the 2-bedroom,
$15,000 house, the McAllen Monitor reports. The interior of the house is not yet finished, but Rolando Rosales has a friend who will help
him paint the floors and install the kitchen floors and appliances.
Buckner
is there to help if needed, but the agency deliberately leaves the homes it
builds unfinished so the new residents can have a sense of responsibility and
ownership. "We're helping fill the gap
that they just can't cross," explained Albert Reyes, president of Buckner
International.
Working odd jobs, 41-year-old
Rosales has struggled to provide for his family since his wife's death. "I take it day-by-day," he said. "It was
pretty hard at first."
Kevin, the oldest Rosales boy,
says he picked the smaller bedroom for himself and his brothers because it will
be easier to keep clean. "I'm excited to
move in," he said. The 12-year-old wants
to be a U.S. Border Patrol agent when he grows up.
The
family also needs to obtain furniture for the house, and Calvary Baptist Church of McAllen plans to
donate some for them. Rosales had been repairing a trailer to use for the move when thieves broke into it, stealing the
mattresses and toys, and scattering clothing all over the yard. Now he is thankful for all that God has
provided for his family.
"I
feel very happy and grateful," said Rosales.
In
2009, Buckner's Rio Grande Valley chapter built 28 homes and repaired 450. Nearly half a million people–many of them
impoverished–live in the colonias of Hidalgo county.
"[Our work] is a drop of water in
the middle of the desert," said Jorge Zapata, Buckner's colonia program
director in the Valley.
