Building houses for the homeless

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Jessica Piazza was a junior at Long Beach High School in 2013 when she learned about a Habitat for Humanity project in Bogotá, Colombia — the city where her mother is from. Later that year, she and her father, Bill Piazza, began working on the project, which was called the “High Impact Team.”

Habitat for Humanity is an international nonprofit organization that works to provide housing to those who are homeless. Saint Mary of the Isle Roman Catholic Church in Long Beach is hosting a Bingo Night fundraiser on Saturday, April 29 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the parish hall to raise money for the Piazzas to return to their work in Colombia. The prizes have been provided by Unsound, Moku Surf, Long Trunks, Skudin Surf, the Long Beach Professional Firefighters Association and the Long Beach Polar Bears.

“The experience was unbelievable and eye-opening,” Bill said. When the pair visited the community and met its residents they discovered the extreme poverty-stricken living conditions first-hand.

“It brought the concept of having nothing to an unimaginable low,” Bill said.

The grounds of the community they visited were mostly unpaved — there were no roads and the homes had dirt floors. After some of the work was done, families had concrete floors, walls in their homes and new roads with proper drainage control.

“This cause has altered my perspective on many levels, but for Jessica, it confirmed her vision,” Bill said. “Her involvement was so important to her that it gave her the vision, strength and courage to help more people at a level higher than I could in ten lifetimes.”

Jessica, who is currently a sophomore at the University of Maryland studying neurobiology and physiology to become a pediatrician, plans to return to Colombia with a team in June to continue the work that began in 2013.

“The people that live there are some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, besides the people that are part of my team,” Jessica said. “The reason I stayed with the team and stayed updated on what they were doing, was because the kids there really inspired me to change my life.”

The money raised goes toward the building arrangements and the cost of the materials used.

“Our return in June will be to finish a community center, and start work for a park,” Bill said. “Meetings with legislators are ongoing to plan and initiate a solid waste and sanitary system.”

The park, Jessica said, is being built so that residents will have a communal place to go other than their homes. “Right now there’s no place for families to go and just hang out together, and do activities,” she said. She plans to change that with the help of her team.

“By no means is this a vacation,” Bill said, “But the feeling that you get from being in a position to help others — and actually doing it — is incomparable.”

Visit https://share.habitat.org/piazza for more information and to make donations.