After she got the key to her very first house, after her priest had blessed the house, when it was finally her turn to speak, Santa Gonzalez turned to her mentor from Lancaster Area Habitat for Humanity, and asked her to translate.

"She gives thanks to the Lord for the opportunity to have her own house," said Patricia Roscoe, addressing dozens of well-wishers crammed into the pristine living room and kitchen of a brand-new townhouse in Lancaster city.

And then Santa Gonzalez sat down on a folding chair and began to quietly weep, as her daughter, Sadhira, tenderly stroked her hair.

In the current economic climate, few Americans take for granted the dream of buying a home, and making a better life for their children.

The dream remains elusive for so many. But it was realized for two families when they received the keys to their new homes in an emotional dedication ceremony early Saturday afternoon.

Their modern, modest homes were built by Lancaster Area Habitat for Humanity.

New homebuyers Santa Gonzalez and Habtamu Kenea and Sara Buli will be the first residents of the Fairview Build, a neighborhood of 19 townhouses that Habitat is building on 1.3 acres at Fairview and Seymour streets.

Their homes were built with a $204,000 grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Local Lutheran congregations also sponsored the homes, and local businesses made in-kind donations. Proceeds from sales at Habitat ReStore, a building supply store operated by Lancaster Habitat, also went toward construction.

In keeping with Habitat's "hand up, not a handout" ethos, each homebuyer had to put in 500 hours of "sweat equity," helping with the construction of their own homes, and volunteering at the ReStore. They attend workshops on budgeting, household planning and maintenance, and neighborhood leadership. They are buying their homes with zero-percent-interest mortgages held by Habitat.

Deborah Stelly, director of family services for Lancaster Habitat, said she would encourage anyone of low or moderate income to apply to the program. But she said that participants need to work "hard for their future."

They need a steady income in order to qualify for mortgages, and they have to be prepared to spend their time off to fulfill Habitat's "sweat equity" requirement. Those 500 hours equate to about three months of full-time work, according to Habitat's calculations.

Patricia Roscoe, Santa Gonzalez's mentor, said that Gonzalez worked "with so much tenacity" to attain her dream of buying her own home.

Gonzalez came to the United States from the Dominican Republic six years ago, because she wanted to ensure that her daughter got a good education.

She found a job at Quality Stone Veneer. And she set her sights on buying a home for herself and her daughter, so that they could move out of their roach- and mice-infested apartment.

"My mom works hard all of the time," said 18-year-old Sadhira, who works with her mom at Quality Stone, and is attending school to become a medical assistant. Eventually, Sadhira hopes to become a nurse.

On Saturday, speaking through a translator, Santa Gonzalez said she was "very, very happy" about the prospect of owning a home for the first time.

Habtamu Kenea and his wife, Sara Buli, came to the United States from Ethiopia, via Kenya.

"Dreams come true," Kenea said Saturday, as he and his wife watched their 2-year-old daughter, Amerti, race around the unfurnished space that soon would be her new bedroom. "Dreams really come true."

Kenea said he used to be a journalist in Ethiopia, but he fled that country after three of his fellow journalists were arrested, and he learned that he was about to be arrested, too. In Ethiopia, he said, everything, including the news media, "is under government control."

He and his wife fled to Kenya, where they found themselves in a refugee camp. They came to the United States in 2006 with the help of the United Nations' refugee agency.

Amerti was born in the United States. Buli is pregnant with the couple's second child; her due date was more than a week ago.

Kenea, who works at QVC, said that when they came to the United States, "we had nothing." And now, the family was on the brink of moving from their tiny, one-bedroom apartment to their very own home.

"I'm feeling so happy, I'm so lucky," Kenea said, noting that Habitat had "changed my life, my kids' life."

Wayne Gongaware, board president of Lancaster Habitat, noted that the organization has built 124 homes for low-income families in Lancaster County since 1986.

State Sen. Lloyd Smucker said that the keys being given to the new homebuyers Saturday not only would open the doors to their homes, but also would open the doors to opportunity. He pointed to Habitat's work as proof that "faith builds a firm foundation."

The Rev. Allan Wolfe, Santa Gonzalez's pastor at San Juan Bautista Catholic Church, offered blessings in Spanish and English. He prayed that God would "always be here," making the new homes a "dwelling place of love."

As Wolfe read from the Gospel of Luke, the happy sounds of children running around empty rooms could be heard.

The dedication ceremony closed with a prayer from the Rev. Stephen Verkouw, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church.

After the ceremony, Verkouw said that not everyone can make the jump to homeownership. But for those who can, he said, "it's such a meaningful thing."

Verkouw said that Habitat homeowners "fortify their own dignity" by working for their new homes.

"The market can do a lot of things, but what it cannot do is combine the passion and community interest of so many people" in the way that Habitat does, Verkouw said.

Wolfe noted that there are a great many people of good will. Habitat, he said, offers a "very effective, efficient way of channeling that good will."

Some good works are ephemeral, Verkouw said, but building a house represents permanence and stability. "It's a gift to the whole community," he said.