Hi, my name is Jeffrey Ortiz.  It’s a pleasure for me to be here.  For those who don’t know me, I’ve been a resident in this neighborhood all my life.  I grew up two streets down from here, on Oread Street; I went to Jacob Hiatt. This is my neighborhood!  It was about 4 years ago that I met Yvette and got introduced to Worcester Common Ground.  At the time, I was taking the First Time Homebuyer course because I really wanted to own my own home.  The process started where I got to see the house, and from the time I first saw it, it took a year to move in – what a crazy process! It definitely took a lot of perseverance and believing, but we were really grateful for Webster 5 for stepping up, and really understanding the ground lease requirement better than me!

Being a homeowner has really allowed me to pursue my dream of owning my own business – and today, thanks to WCG, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to fulfill that dream! It’s been about a year that I started this journey with my best friend – to start a home health care agency called Harvest Home Health Care.  Our mission is to provide exceptional health care to our community, and at the same time, giving back to this community that has given me so much.  Worcester Common Ground inspired me to really appreciate my community, and to give back.  So I know this is a fundraiser –every seed you guys plant, every dollar that you donate, will be planted in a common soil for the people. So thank you guys again for being here, and for everyone that put this together, and to the people that made this neighborhood the best neighborhood in Worcester! Thank you.