Vermont Housing Conservation Board 2005 - Vermont Housing and ...
Vermont Housing Conservation Board 2005 - Vermont Housing and ...
Vermont Housing Conservation Board 2005 - Vermont Housing and ...
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“Owning a home isn’t just luck...it is hard work!”<br />
TWIN PINES HOUSING TRUST HELPS<br />
COUPLE REALIZE THEIR DREAM<br />
Joan <strong>and</strong> Gabriel Ponzoni are an inspiration to their neighbors. After thirty-five<br />
years of marriage they still do everything together. That includes all the hard<br />
work this loving couple have painstakingly put into every inch of their house <strong>and</strong><br />
yard. Flower, vegetable, <strong>and</strong> herb gardens abound. Joan proudly describes how her<br />
husb<strong>and</strong> constructed a grape arbor for her, reminiscent of their time living in Italy.<br />
She showed me the remaining vines of the morning glories she had planted over her<br />
back fence, which grew on the other side, much to the delight of her neighbors.<br />
Inside the Ponzoni home, every wall is beautifully painted, stenciled, or decorated.<br />
Plants, wall hangings, <strong>and</strong> meticulously stitched needlework grace the home.<br />
The overall effect is a combination of Mediterranean, French, <strong>and</strong> American culture.<br />
As I was shown into room after room, the pride of accomplishment was evident<br />
in Joan’s voice as she described each h<strong>and</strong>-painted, h<strong>and</strong>crafted, or h<strong>and</strong>-made<br />
item. Then at the end of the tour we sat in the cozy kitchen, <strong>and</strong> Joan said to me,<br />
“Things weren’t always like this. At one point, before we had ever heard of Twin<br />
Pines, owning a home seemed like an impossible dream.”<br />
Joan is from Canada, <strong>and</strong> Gabriel is from Italy, where they lived for a while,<br />
<strong>and</strong> where their daughter Norma was born. After returning to the United States,<br />
they spent nine years living in a twenty-five foot travel trailer. The Ponzoni’s lived<br />
in a variety of states, before ending up in <strong>Vermont</strong> twenty years ago. They left the<br />
trailer to live in apartments, moving when rents were raised or properties were<br />
sold. They became tired of moving, <strong>and</strong> not having a home to call their own, so<br />
the search began to find a house. They searched for over a year <strong>and</strong> a half, but the<br />
prices were either too high, or the houses too run down. Joan remembers walking<br />
out of one house with tears streaming down her face. It felt so hopeless. Houses in<br />
their price range weren’t worth buying because they needed so much work. Then,<br />
Joan <strong>and</strong> Gabriel heard about Twin Pines <strong>Housing</strong> Trust <strong>and</strong> the initiative to build<br />
affordable single-family homes. They applied, qualified, <strong>and</strong> then waited for the<br />
house to be built. They will never forget the day the papers were signed <strong>and</strong> keys<br />
were h<strong>and</strong>ed over. “We were so happy!” Joan said.<br />
Joan <strong>and</strong> Gabriel Ponzoni have lived in their house for fourteen years. When<br />
asked how owning a home has changed their lives, they answer that it gave them<br />
the chance to put down roots, <strong>and</strong> to have not just a house but a home. Their<br />
advice for first time homebuyers is to keep trying, <strong>and</strong> when you get it you have<br />
to appreciate it. You have to work to make it better.<br />
“People say we’re lucky, but I say it isn’t just luck, it’s hard work. Sure, you have<br />
to get lucky to get something like a house, but then you have to work hard to keep<br />
it. You can’t just let it go.”<br />
The Ponzoni’s don’t intend to ever let their home go. They love to travel, but<br />
now they know they have a place to come home to that they can call their own.<br />
Reprinted from the Twin Pines <strong>Housing</strong> Trust newsletter. Abridged from an article by<br />
Shelley Geoghegan, Publicity <strong>and</strong> Resident Outreach Coordinator<br />
Joan <strong>and</strong> Gabriel Ponzoni, at<br />
home. The Ponzonis were able<br />
to purchase a home after<br />
many years of renting.<br />
The Ponzoni's home in White River<br />
Junction was built by Twin Pines<br />
<strong>Housing</strong> Trust using VHCB funds.<br />
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