Indonesian immigrant spent years rebuilding Sandy homes. Now he needs their help

When Simone Dannecker met Harry Pangemanan, she didn't know his immigration status or that he had nearly been deported for living in the country illegally.

She came to know him as a popular church volunteer who delivered drywall, paint and other supplies free of cost as her husband, a licensed contractor, rebuilt the family’s Union Beach home. For two years, Pangemanan visited the house weekly to help the Danneckers. Sometimes, he came with a team of volunteers from across the continent, ready to help in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy.

Now the mother of two is speaking out on Pangemanan's behalf as he faces imminent deportation to Indonesia.

"If it wasn't for Harry, we wouldn't be where we are right now, back home," said Dannecker, 47, who has lived in Union Beach all her life. "Harry is an absolute blessing."

The Danneckers are one of more than 200 families who Pangemanan helped and part of a growing list of Bayshore residents coming to his defense after learning that he was targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week.

"I am not for immigrants who are milking the system, but that's not all of them. He was a hardworking, compassionate, law-abiding guy," said Laura Traynor, 71, who says Pangemanan and his volunteers insulated and cleaned up her Union Beach house.

"I call him my angel," she added.

Pangemanan, 47, an ethnic Chinese Christian who fled religious persecution in Indonesia, entered sanctuary Thursday at the Reformed Church of Highland Park to avoid being detained by ICE agents. That morning, two other Indonesian Christian men were picked up by ICE after dropping off their kids at school.

Their difficulties sparked concern in high places. New Gov. Phil Murphy visited the church sanctuary and pledged his support. The next day, his attorney general, Gurbir Grewal, called upon ICE to review its enforcement efforts at or around schools – for years considered a sensitive location not targeted by ICE.

Pangemanan, a married father of two U.S.-born children, has welcomed the help, inasmuch as his life has been upended since seeking refuge in the church sanctuary. He discusses his home being ransacked this weekend in the video above.

"I'm here right now to stay ... if you can after this meeting please call the ICE office," he said at the church Thursday. "Please do whatever you can. This happened very, very fast."

Harry Pangemanan in sanctuary:

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Since 2012, he has worked with the church to rebuild homes pummeled by superstorm Sandy. He helped repair 209 homes along the Jersey Shore, using church donations to buy supplies.

The Borough of Highland Park, where his family lives, gave him the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award for his service earlier this month.

A helping hand

Two years after flood waters swept through Dannecker's house, her family's reconstruction project came to a standstill.

Her husband, licenced contractor Kenneth Dannacker, spent months after the storm reinstalling flooring and drywall only to find out years later he had to raise the house and do it all over again.

Kenneth Dannecker had hip replacement surgery, and the couple spent the last of their money on another contractor. The couple and their two teenage children slept at various friends' houses, often living apart for months at a time, as they waited on the project.

"We had problems with our contractor taking our money but not really bringing their materials," Simone Dannecker said.

Then came Pangemanan. He offered to help Kenneth Dannecker repair the small blue home. He started making regular visits in April 2015.

"He gave and gave and gave. He gave us all the materials from money that parishioners had donated to the cause," Simone Dannecker said.

More: DE SENO: What's real reason immigrant can't return to Indonesia?

More: BERGMANN: End reign of fear in immigrant community

The Danneckers struggled with surgeries, the death of Simone's mother and finances. Their children were displaced from their homes through high school and college. Pangemanan remained a constant presence through those times, eager to help wrap up construction. The family moved back over the summer.

Traynor said her family spent seven months in a cramped trailer as one contractor after another took their money and let their house sit untouched. She reached out to Williams, then a councilman, who directed her to Pangemanan.

"He would come every week and say, 'What do you need? Are you all right?'" she recalled. "He did everything in the house for me that wasn't done by the contractors."

The Traynors got a temporary certificate of occupancy and moved back while Pangemanan worked on the house. She remembers he helped Traynor's husband down the steps because of a weak knee. He called Traynor "Ma."

"I feel like he's my son," she said. "I love him like my son."

When politics gets personal

When the Asbury Park Press interviewed Pangemanan in 2015, he said few homeowners knew about his history, but he hoped his work would help them see immigrants in a new light.

Pangemanan's life in the United States starts in 1993. He came here on a tourist visa and overstayed, hoping to escape religious persecution from his native Muslim-majority country. Like other Indonesians in Central New Jersey, he qualified for asylum. But a 1996 immigration law introduced a one-year deadline for asylum seekers entering the country to file their applications.

By the time Pangemanan found out, he had missed the deadline.

Over the years, he and other Indonesian Christians without legal status were targeted several times for deportation. He was nearly deported in 2009, and in 2012 he spent 11 months in sanctuary with eight other Indonesian Christians fearing deportation. ICE eventually granted them a "stay of removal," letting them work and stay temporarily.

As word spread of Pangemanan's new predicament, Union Beach residents rallied around him. Dannecker, who introduced Murphy at a Monday news conference on the environment in Highlands, used the occasion to speak out in support of Pangemanan. Other Shore families have attended rallies backing his cause or called asking how they can help.

"All this guy has done for these communities, and Trump's concern is getting him out of here with his family?" Dannecker told a Press reporter. "This man helped over 200 families."

Jeff Williams, a former Democratic councilman in Union Beach said he has known Pangemanan for years.

"Harry was awesome for the people of Union Beach," he said. "When people needed that type of assistance, Harry was the gentleman to call."

"I wish there were more Americans like Harry," Williams said, "but Harry's the best of what America is about."

Members of the Kenny family from Union Beach drove up to Metuchen Sunday to show support for Pangemanan. Pangemanan regularly visited their home, also damaged by Sandy, and led a group of volunteers to rebuild it.

"For more than a year, he helped us with everything – from finishing underneath our house, siding, painting, plumbing, finding other volunteers," said Kelli Kenny, who came with her three children and husband, William.

"We would not have our house back without him," she told The Home News Tribune.

Traynor, who said she voted for Trump, said Pangemanan's imminent deportation has made her think twice about the White House's immigration proposals.

"I don't know, but it's happened in my backyard so I'm looking at it differently now," she said. "My mind is changing more so from how I felt about the immigrants, because of Harry."

How to help

Supporters launched fundraising drives for Indonesian Christians detained by ICE and those in sanctuary at the Reformed Church of Highland Park. The donations are to offset living expenses and legal fees. For more information, go to www.speakupnj.org.

The Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale of Highland Park also leads the Deportation and Immigration Response Equipo, a rapid-response team that aims to protect immigrants targeted by ICE. For more information, go to http://www.direteam.org.