We saw a need for the homeowners in our community to have access to affordable home repair. We are so excited to be a part of the solution to this problem and Margo was our very first Home Repair Program recipient!
Margo has always been an active member of our community, working hard for years and rising to the top of her profession as a firefighter. Several years ago she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and as her mobility diminished she retired. She now often needs to walk with a cane or a walker, which isn’t a problem, except there were three steps to get in and out of her house.
Three steps does not seem like a massive hurdle. Most of us would buy a home and consider those three steps to be insignificant. However, Margo began to struggle with those steps. Getting groceries in the house was a struggle. She would pick up each bag, set it on the step above, take a step, repeat. She had to stop using her fireplace because she simply could not get the wood inside her home by using the same method. It would be exhausting just to try to transport enough wood to start a fire, let alone enough to keep it going. She needed help and she needed to get rid of those steps.
So she applied for the Home Repair Program and our construction crew went out and took away her steps and replaced them with a ramp. But they didn’t just build a ramp to one door, they built a ramp to both the front and back doors, replaced her gutters that were falling apart, not draining properly, and creating a hazard to her home, and repaired a leak from her hot water heater that was causing flooding under her home.
Now, instead of fighting up three steps every day, she can walk, easily up a ramp. She can use her walker to roll her groceries into her home with ease and, most excitingly, she can use her fireplace again! Margo exclaimed, “I rediscovered freedom with the addition of a ramp!”
We are so excited that this program could provide so much more than support or simple repair assistance. It gave Margo back some of her freedom and working with us made her feel like a part of the Habitat family.
Margo expressed her appreciation of Habitats work and encourages people to support our mission by stating, “People really do need to help as much as they can with donations and in the ReStore. Habitat is small, but you’re mighty.”
