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A city full of hope but struggling with drugs and crime, Camden, New Jersey, is where the Marrero family lives.
Victor Marrero, a disabled father with a bad heart condition, and his five boys were featured on ABC's 20/20 with Diane Sawyer. They are a hardworking, loving family whose only hope for survival is each other. They have three beds, rats, holes and barely any electricity or heat. When the electricity doesn't work, they do their homework by candlelight. The oldest boy, Billy Jo, is the only one in his whole family who has graduated from high school — not an easy task for a boy who had to go to school watching his back for gunfire and gangbangers, then take a bus out of town for his job at a fast-food restaurant where he was guaranteed a free meal before he got home after 10 pm to do his homework and start the routine all over again.
This week I was in charge of two of the boys' rooms. They are both into sports, and one is very much into electronics, so this room will be the sporty electronics room. Another key component in the room I worked on were the beds. These boys didn't have beds in the old house — they just slept on the floor with old blankets to lie on. That is unacceptable, and I will be taking care of that. In addition to some cool graphics, I will be painting on the walls, and I'm building a desk for the boys so they can continue to excel in their academics. It should be a great room for two truly deserving boys.
J.S. Hovnanian & Sons Homes was the perfect match to build a house for the Marrero family. Jirair, Peter, Stephen, Garo and the entire Hovnanian family joined us to build a beautiful home. You couldn't possibly have picked a better builder to build for a more deserving family.
To this day the New Jersey build is one of my favorites. Being a father myself, I hold fathers like Victor in very high regard. This man has dedicated his life, his very existence to providing for his boys and keeping them safe — not an easy task when you have a severe heart condition and live in a crime/drug-infested area. But somehow Victor has been able to raise his boys to be respectful, community-minded young men who take their schoolwork and their charity work seriously. It is clear that Victor loves his sons, but it is equally evident in talking with them how much they love their dad. They speak about the sacrifices he has made on their behalf, making sure they are safe and warm at night, more than once referring to him as their hero. Each one of Victor's sons is a shining example of the influence a father can have.
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