Kyle Van Nus, Home Repairs Ministries’ Project Manager, is often the first person to hear homeowners’ concerns in person.
Ed and Mary’s story is a representation of the challenges and heartache Kyle hears every week. While their names and specific details have been fictionalized to protect the privacy of the real homeowners we serve, their experiences represent the very real stories of hopelessness you are helping us rewrite.
Ed and Mary have been together for 50 years. The high school sweethearts married after Ed returned from deployment. Then they started a family.
Three children grew up in their Gwinnett home, and these three children have brought five grandchildren over to toddle and play. Ed and Mary’s youngest grandbaby even took his first steps in their home.
But when Parkinson’s disease limited Ed’s mobility, he wasn’t able to care for the home that shelters his wife and so many family memories. His children try to help when they can, but exterior repairs started to pile up.
“Climbing a ladder seems like a simple task, but with Parkinson’s, it not only becomes tricky. It also becomes a safety issue,” Ed shared.
Then Ed and Mary received a citation for the deterioration of their home’s siding and roof. Their back porch had rotted and fallen off. They could only use the front door to enter and exit the house, making it a fire hazard.
Now they didn’t just have to find a way to cover the repairs. They also had to pay the fines and complete the repairs or face eviction.
“We were just hoping somehow, some way, we would be able to do the [repairs] that we needed to do,” Mary said.
While Ed and Mary’s daughter was researching ways to help her parents, she found Home Repairs Ministries.
A few days later, Kyle went out to Ed and Mary’s for an inspection. Soon after, he called Ed and Mary and told them: “Home Repairs Ministries can help.”
The project took weeks to complete and multiple volunteer groups. But when it was done, Ed and Mary’s home was not only code-compliant on the outside. Volunteers had also added grab bars and extra handrails inside to help Ed and Mary safely navigate their home.
For Ed and Mary, these repairs aren’t just a load off their minds. It’s a reminder that people in their community see them and care for them.
“It means that there is still good in the world and there are still good people in the world. That’s what this means to me,” Mary shared.
Thanks to these repairs, Ed and Mary can continue growing old together in the place that holds so many traditions and memories.
And repairs like this don’t just touch homeowners. They also touch Home Repairs’ team.
“We get to be a part of a ministry that is literally the hands and feet of Jesus,” Kyle said, “and we get to take things that are broken and make them new.”
The words spoken in this story are those of real people Home Repairs has served. And your support can change the lives of real families, families like Ed and Mary represent. Make a financial gift or give your time as a volunteer to help repair homes and hearts.