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Pay-it-forward through service during Habitat for Humanity build in Longmont

Posted at 8:10 PM, Jun 06, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-07 00:45:51-04
LONGMONT, Colo. -- A construction site isn't necessarily a place for paying it forward. But in Longmont and across northern Colorado this week, it is. 
 
Habitat for Humanity is hosting a build-a-thon in Boulder, Berthoud, Loveland and Longmont. More than 100 Americorps volunteers are building or fixing up several community sites. 
 
But what does that have to do with paying it forward? 
 
One of the volunteers, Prudence Eca-Mizosa, grew up in a Habitat-built home after his family immigrated to the U.S. from war-torn Africa.
 
"That really helped us out after coming to a new country having really nothing," he said, standing next to a wall he helped frame.
 
Now he's helping build a home for someone else to grow up in.
 
"Since my family was helped, it just seems right for me to also help someone else," he added. 
 
Specifically, helping Modesta Garcia. Half of the under-construction duplex will be her home. She has three sons. The youngest, Jared, is seven.
 
"This home is for him because he has special needs," she said. 
 
Her message to Prudence and these Americorps volunteers?
 
"Everybody helped to make my dream to have a home," she said.
 
"It is the American dream. It is the quintessential American story," Clive Rainey said. 
 
Rainey is Habitat for Humanity's oldest volunteer. He was also on the site today. 
 
"People who grew up in Habitat homes are now prepared to go out and become young leaders and help lead in their community and help the next family get a decent place to live," he said. 
 
For people like Prudence, helping families like Modesta's.