It’s been one health crisis after another for Derek.
After bravely serving our country, Derek is now a 100% disabled veteran who has experienced multiple heart attacks and surgeries. His sister and niece live with him and provide the care he needs.
But Derek’s home hasn’t been a place of safety through all that.
His furnace hadn’t been replaced since his home was built in 1993, and Derek realized it was blowing out dust and growing mold. He reached out to an HVAC professional for a free inspection and learned the furnace wasn’t just a threat to his health. It was also a fire hazard.
“I realized I needed a new heating and air conditioning unit, but I didn’t have a way of getting a new one installed,” Derek explained.
He contacted his social worker at Veterans Affairs and his homeowner’s insurance. Neither was able to help, but they did recommend Home Repairs Ministries.
Derek filled out an application online, and soon after, Ashley Henkle, HRM’s program coordinator, gave Derek a call.
With several other homeowners with critical repair needs on the waitlist, Ashley was unable to promise immediate help. She placed Derek on the waitlist, and HRM’s team began reaching out to HVAC partners and researching funding available to Derek as a veteran to cover the furnace repair.
“[HRM Executive Director] Heather was able to connect with a veterans nonprofit,” Kyle Van Nus, HRM’s project manager, explained. “They split the cost with us, and we were able to bring in Sean from Your HVAC Guys to replace it.”
Then, months after the critical HVAC repair was complete, a severe thunderstorm hit Derek’s area.
“I called and spoke to Ashley and mentioned that the thunderstorm’s high winds had blown down my backyard fence,” Derek said.
He’d received a verbal warning from local code enforcement to clean up the debris from his broken fence, but he couldn’t handle the cleanup on his own.
“The same day I called, [HRM’s Project Manager] Kyle was here taking pictures of the backyard where the fence had been destroyed.”
Fortunately, two generous volunteer groups were available to help.
“Realty ONE demoed the whole fence, tore down an old playset and cleaned up the yard,” Kyle said. “Then Reeves Young volunteers rebuilt over 300 feet of fence in a day.”
“Before the week was over, there was a fence up in the backyard,” Derek shared.
Scarleth Valeriano, preconstruction coordinator at Reeves Young, was one of the volunteers on the team. She and the team were grateful to show Reeves Young’s commitment to serving where they work.
And in just a few hours of work, they left a lasting impression.
“It was a meaningful opportunity to improve the safety and appearance of his home while helping relieve a burden he could no longer manage on his own,” Scarleth shared.
“The most impactful part was seeing everyone come together — each person using their own talents and abilities to help someone we had never met before.”
For Kyle, every repair is special. But serving veterans like Derek is a personal mission of his.
“My father is a veteran. I have multiple uncles who are veterans,” he said. “I know what that generation went through and that it can be very difficult for them to ask for help.”
Kyle has also seen how veterans have been hurt by promises other organizations or programs can’t keep.
But through the support of local partners, Home Repairs Ministries can answer the call to serve heroes like Derek who served our country.
Kyle and the volunteers will remember the joy on Derek’s face as they served him through critical repairs. But Derek will remember how strangers in his community made him a priority.
“The people who helped with these projects did the job with professional accuracy,” Derek said. “[The Home Repairs team] is dependable, reliable and very kind. They treat you like you are the only person needing help at that time.
“May God forever bless all of them.”
