Home Makeover 2009

For the third year in a row Mary and I participated in our church's Home Makeover project. Working with a town nearby we identify 4 homes that need significant work but where the families are unable to do for one reason or another. Historically this has included painting, replacing flooring, landscaping, appliance replacement or repair and other things you would expect. But, it has occasionally included major reconstruction of parts of the house that were starting to decay.

This year we changed things up a little bit. Once we had the 4 primary homes identified we selected two nearby houses for mini-makeovers. A mini-makeover could involve exterior painting, minor repairs and other helpful projects that the homeowner has been unable to keep up with.

Once those projects were handled we went up and down the street mowing lawns, trimming trees and, in the case of our street, unloading a moving truck for a family that happened to be moving in on that day (I can only imaging how refreshing it when the three people in that truck were swarmed by a group of strangers that wanted to help unload). It is amazing how much you can get done when about 1600 people spread out over the four neighborhoods.

This year a local TV station was at our house to do a story on the project and the family. Click on the image above to see that story (after a short commercial).