Two dozen well-dressed men and women, a handful of police officers and the mayor of Harvey gathered outside a vacant home at the end of a quiet street Thursday morning, waiting for the man of the hour.
At 11 a.m., former U.S. Army Sgt. Manuel Cebreros rolled up in a minivan driven by the elder of his church and was handed the keys to his mortgage-free home.
Since 2010, the Military Warriors Support Foundation has donated almost 1,000 homes to veterans around the country, including its latest donation of the multilevel, three-bed, two-bath, brown brick family home on the 1600 block of Vine Avenue in Harvey.
“I am just grateful, humbled and honored to be a part of this,” said Cebreros, a resident of Palm Spring, California who is gearing up to relocate to Harvey.
The Purple Heart recipient joined the Army in 2009 and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, where he was injured during combat.
Military Warriors Support Foundation receives foreclosed homes owned by Wells Fargo as a donation by the bank to a subsidiary of the foundation called Homes4WoundedHeroes, according to Jentill Neal, a bank spokesman. Homes4WoundedHeroes does some upgrades to the donated home to get it ready for a new owner.
Neal did not know the value of the home.
Cebreros found out about Homes4WoundedHeroes because two other veterans he deployed with received a home from the process. He looked up the program, applied and was alerted that he was selected to get this Harvey home.
While a new home is perhaps reason enough to move anywhere in the country, the move from Palm Springs to a little known south suburb is intriguing. But this Californian resident is confident, excited and hopeful. He said he gets to reunite with some friends and family who live in Chicago and looks forward to the challenges and promise of restarting his business here.
“In California, I owned a landscaping company and window cleaning company and I want to bring them here and expand on that and continue to do that work,” Cebreros said.
Harvey Mayor Christopher J. Clark and Wells Fargo commended Cebreros’ service to the country and welcomed him to the town before handing him a ceremonial 2-foot long cardboard house key.
When Cebreros walked inside for the first time, he marveled at the new floors, pristine paint job and spacious bedrooms.
“Wow, this is beautiful, damn,” he said, opening doors and peering inside.
A burning candle made the house inviting and cozy, wafting in from the kitchen a subtle whiff of cinnamon with a hint of excitement.
hsanders@chicagotribune.com
