With help from her family and friends, a City of Batavia resident is expressing her appreciation and sharing her talent to support the local organization that made home ownership a reality.
Angelina Pellegrino of 150 State St. is conducting a yard sale – featuring clothing, household items and her original painted rocks – until 3 o’clock this afternoon and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow to benefit Habitat for Humanity of Genesee County.
“We moved into our home – which is the eighth Habitat for Humanity home in Genesee County -- about 10 years ago, and I am trying to get the word out there about such a wonderful program,” she said. “While a lot of people hear about Habitat, unfortunately, they don’t know what it is.”
Affectionally known as the “rock lady (although she prefers “rock artist”), Pellegrino said she has been selling rocks for the past year with all proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity.
“Then I decided to have a yard sale and get the community involved,” she said. “The outpouring of support and donations from everybody has been amazing.”
Pellegrino, whose family includes husband, Matt Wolff, and children, Mikalina, Carmelina and Lorenzo, is on the local Habitat’s fundraising committee but said the yard sale is something they wanted to do on their own to promote the nonprofit enterprise.
She said she has received plenty of assistance getting things set up from her mom, Sue, and brother, Vinnie, as well as cousin, Jennie Barone; aunt, Tina Adams; best friend, Chrissy Morgan, and neighbors, Deb Romasser and Gretchen Franke.
“This is the first time for the yard sale. We’ve been collecting things from people, and The Batavian, Video News Service and WBTA have been helpful in getting the word out,” she said. “People have been dropping off things for over a month. My house is completed overloaded with all of this.”
Pellegrino also is selling her painted rocks, with the smaller ones going for a $5 donation and the larger boulders available for donations of $15 to $20.
“I paint, usually on canvas, but one day I started doing some gardening outside and thought that I would put some rocks around my tree. And I thought, they need to be colored. After that, it needs to be bigger,” she explained. “So, I started adding to it and before you know it, I went into my neighbor’s yard with them. It’s really taken off as there are probably more than 200 out here now.”
She looked back on the decision to apply for a Habitat for Humanity home as a life-changing experience.
“I was a renter in Batavia and I was told by somebody to apply for Habitat,” she said. “You have to have good credit and fall in line with certain income requirements – you have to make enough but not too much – and they get homes and rebuild them.”
The family’s home on State Street, across from Centennial Park, was completely gutted, said Pellegrino, who recently put on an addition in the back for her to operate her hair salon business.
“What Habitat does is make it possible for people to get a home. It’s a wonderful thing, at a fraction of the cost,” she said. “With Habitat homes, you also put in ‘sweat equity’ so for a certain amount of the time that they’re rebuilding it, you also have to help rebuild it.
“You learn the ins-and-outs of your home. I sided my house in 30-degree weather. I insulated it. You know your home and you take pride it in afterwards because you really worked hard on it.”
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For more information about Habitat for Humanity of Genesee County, go to www.geneseehabitat.com.
Photos: At top, Angelina Pellegrino welcomes community residents to her home at 150 State St. for a yard (and rock) sale to benefit Habitat for Humanity of Genesee County; bottom, Pellegrino, an artist, holds a rock featuring Big Gay Al of the South Park TV show, and photos of a couple of her creations. The 'We're All Mad Here' rock is not for sale, but the 'Crocodile Rock' is. Photos by Mike Pettinella.
