There’s always something going on at Sariah’s house.
With her five children — ranging in age from 5 to 29 — and her grandchildren coming and going, her home is bustling, and she likes it.
“It keeps me young,” she said.
It’s a home that has been in her family since the mid-90s, when her parents bought it. Sariah took ownership in 2008, but as much as she loved it, she inherited a lot of its problems, too.
“When my parents owned it, they didn’t do a lot of the upkeep,” she said. “So now I’m in a position where everything is on me. Everything is falling apart. Everything is happening. I have to take care of it.”
From wood damage to gaps around the windows and doors to plumbing issues — it was all almost too overwhelming for her to handle on her own.
Then in 2022, Sariah was diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s been in treatment since, and upkeep and repair became impossible for her to do, let alone afford.
She found Home Repairs Ministries through Victory Church in Norcross, where she attends. She submitted an application for help with her critical repairs and was working with the team to come up with a plan to address all the problems.
Then a pipe burst underneath the home’s foundation, flooding the kitchen and dining room.
“It went behind the walls and underneath the flooring, and there was mold,” Sariah said. “It was a big, big deal.”
As unfortunate as the pipe burst was, Sariah said she was grateful to already be in touch with Home Repairs. When she called and explained the emergency, the team quickly shifted gears.
“They stopped some of the other jobs they were going to do and made me a priority,” she said.
In just a few days, Home Repairs Project Manager Kyle Van Nus and a team of specialists in mold remediation, plumbing and flooring came out to assess the damage.
Sariah had no water during the three days they were making the repairs, but she doesn’t remember the inconvenience as much as she remembers how she was treated by Kyle and the team and how quickly they responded. She appreciated how well they navigated a house with young children and the busy schedule that comes with managing a household. They kept the place clean as they worked.
“They were great about it, honestly. Just very professional, very courteous, very empathetic,” she said. “It was really just their whole attitude and approach to everything that made a huge difference. I knew I was taken care of.”
As they were working, Kyle’s team discovered that the pipe burst stemmed from a larger issue: a previous repair to the main water line had been done incorrectly.
“So Home Repairs not only fixed what was underneath the kitchen sink — they repiped the entire house correctly, including new fixtures in the bathrooms, new toilets, a new sink and fixtures in the kitchen and an outdoor water faucet,” Sariah said. “It was huge.”
Each step of the way, Kyle and the team made sure that the repair was done right.
The biggest gift was feeling like she was lifted out of a pit of worry. Her whole perspective on her life and living space changed because of the compassion of the Home Repairs team.
“Now when I walk through my front door, I have peace and joy, whereas before there was just this fear and this burden,” she said. “This is a real ministry that makes a life-changing impact, not just on the individual who owns the house, but on other people like the children and anyone else involved in their lives. Home Repairs takes a house and makes it into a home.”
