Project Mend-A-House is, in my mind, the perfect charity for someone at my level to contribute and make a difference. Small enough to not be overburdened with administrative and overhead requirements and costs, efficient enough to make immediate and significant differences in peoples' lives, and driven enough to always be there to step up on our clients' behalf and address their needs. As a middle-income working professional with a family to support, I am not in a position financially to make significant monetary contributions to every worthy charity, and must be careful and choosy of those to which I do contribute. I determined, however, that PMAH is an organization to which I can instead donate my time and energy in a number of ways, comfortable in knowing and seeing the immediate impacts in the work that we do.
i got involved over 9 years ago with Project Mend-A-House (PMAH) as a board member. At that time we didn't know where any of the money was coming from to do the work needed for our clients. Since that time, we have expanded our reach in the community and our funding has far exceeded anything we ever imagined. The clients we help (seniors, low income, & infirmed) so need help from organizations like PMAH. We help with projects such as repairing homes, help build wheelchair ramps, clean yards, landscape, and painting. The work is done all by volunteers... and each one loves helping each other & helping the community. I am proud to be associated with this organization - it's needed in our community & in every other community in our country.
Project Mend-a-House is instrumental in helping low income families (especially the elderly) with home repairs that they may not otherwise be able to do. I am proud to be a Board Member for this organization because I have have heard so many stories about the help they offer. Our most recent project is also one of our most ambitious - helping a young man by adding a bathroom to the main floor of his home. Because he is confined by a wheelchair, he is unable to get the second floor bathroom and this new addition will enable him to get a shower instead of the sponge baths he now receives. My interest in serving on the Board came from reviewing a Project Mend-a-House application for an award. The handwritten letters from several of the elderly served by Project Mend-a-House were so touching they made me cry to realize how much I have and how little so many others have. I decided I needed to volunteer my time to help keep making a difference in those lives.
When I joined the board I didn't even know what Project Mend-A-House (PMAH) did but in the past few years I have learned just how important it is. My personal belief that having a safe place to call home is one of the keys to success makes PMAH fit the bill.
Seeing how this organization changes lives is amazing. I have seen seniors who would have had to leave their homes be able to stay because of repairs by PMAH.
I felt distinct pride at knowing we helped return freedom to an injured veteran by making his home accessible to him.
This year we are changing the life of a teenage boy who will have the dignity of caring for himself instead of relying on others.
Each year I learn more about how we keep people in their homes safely and return the freedom and dignity we all take for granted.
