BREADWINNER PARALYZED

HE COULD NO LONGER REPAIR THE HOUSE HE BUILT

A family near Harvard, in Chemung, Illinois, lived beyond our ideal service area but their circumstances compelled us to respond. The husband suffered a traumatic brain injury as the result of a sudden illness and was bedridden—effectively paralyzed. Although his wife worked, their financial situation was such that they did not have the means to do critical home repairs, principally, address serious water damage to their home from a burst pipe. Ironically, the husband was a contractor, a capable craftsman who actually built the very home he could no longer service. We visited the couple, reviewed their situation and drafted a scope of work and a budget with little hesitation.

WHAT OUR VOLUNTEERS ACCOMPLISHED

Our email request for volunteers received an amazing response. On the first weekend, we had 30 volunteers show up! Possessing a good mix of skills and great determination they accomplished an impressive amount of work inside and out.

We had a second volunteer weekend for this project. Again, our volunteers were very productive and completed the following:

• Remediated severe structural issues
• Built a new deck to permit the husband outside access
• Completed exterior siding
• Provided heating to eliminate the frozen pipe problem in the laundry area
• Installed new flooring
• Drywalled the interior
• Addressed sump pump issues and
• Completed a major exterior clean-up

Follow up Project: In doing the exterior repair work, it was apparent that the home needed gutters to avoid a repetition of the damage in the future. In the summer of 2017, we did the necessary planning and contracted with a gutter company to do the actual installation.