PARSIPPANY-TROY HILLS — Parsippany residents Ken and Cristina Folan, along with two of their children, Lucas and Teresa, participated in a week-long service trip to Guatemala to build homes for families living in poverty through the organization From Houses to Homes.
This was the family’s seventh trip since 2009, and their fourth trip with a group from Notre Dame of Mt. Carmel Church, Cedar Knolls. This trip, the group built four homes, making it a total of twenty houses built through the Notre Dame parish since it began sending volunteers in 2014. This year, the group built in and around the town, Pastores.
Lucas is a 2017 graduate of Parsippany Hills High School and Teresa will be a Junior in the fall. Lucas will be attending Hofstra University.
The one-room cinder block houses are built over a five day work week. Volunteers are split into groups of 5-7 and work alongside two Guatemalan workers from the organization who direct the construction. During the week, volunteers also have the opportunity to visit the organization’s school, Kemna’oj, located in the town Santa Maria de Jesus, and medical clinic, located in Pastores.
From Houses to Homes is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2004 by the late Morristown native, Joe Collins.
In his own volunteer work in Guatemala between 2001 and 2004, Joe recognized that despite the richness of the Guatemalan country and culture, there was much to be done about the severe poverty and poor living conditions that many Guatemalans faced.
Collins developed the organization with the goal to provide housing, education, and healthcare for the communities that needed it. Since 2004, From Houses to Homes has built 1,219 homes in Guatemala.
To learn more about From Houses to Homes and how to donate or volunteer click here.
Anyone interested in participating please contact Judy Baker, the From Houses to Homes director here in New Jersey: judybaker@fromhousestohomes.org.
