Project Home’s website tells the story best:
“Project Home has been helping financially struggling community members, including military veterans, for nearly 50 years, but the program “Serving Those Who Served” is different. This is OUR program – built and supported by OUR community, to help vets right here at home. This initiative allows Project Home to use the knowledge and abilities of its staff to assist community members who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. Serving Those Who Served is our way to give back to veterans who have given up so much for us.
With over 16,000 Wisconsin veterans unemployed and 58,000 disabled (statistics from heat4heroes.org), the need is great.”
This is an initiative focused on making health and safety-related home repairs, accessibility modifications and energy efficiency improvements for honorably discharged military veterans who:
- Own their homes
- Are at or below 80% of Dane County’s median income level
- Live in Dane or Green County
The Impact Award from 100+ Women Who Care Madison provided funds to greatly improve not only safety and efficiency in two veteran’s homes, but added greatly to their quality of life, self-esteem and outlook on the future.
The first project was done for Project Home’s first female veteran served. Clara was a nurse in the service. After she was discharged, she had a number of issues and encountered challenges with her VA benefits. Life was not easy and positive progress felt nearly impossible – until Jason from Project Home connected with her. After several conversations, they determined that having a number of issues with her home cared for would make a huge difference. Here is what they completed:
- Installed new water heater (old one was not working well and showed signs of leaking)
- Installed water softener (their friends at Hellenbrand Water did the installation)
- Replaced broken dishwasher
- Replaced leaking kitchen faucet
- Installed new bath fan for proper moisture control
- Sealed air leaks in the attic and added insulation to improve energy efficiency of Clara’s home and help reduce her energy bills
Clara credits that relationship, the care and respect shown, and the expert work done to her home with turning her attitude and her life around. “Project Home supported and helped me when it seemed like others wouldn’t listen. Thank you for the new water heater, water softener and for making my home more comfortable and energy efficient. Most of all, thank you for remembering veterans.” – Clara
The second project 100+ Women supported was for Walt. Walt had been recently widowed and, without his wife, he was struggling. His house had become overwhelmingly cluttered, as he just couldn’t part with anything after she was gone. It reached a point where it had become a health and safety issue for him…that’s when he met Project Home. The work completed for Walt included:
- Relocating his laundry from the basement to the 1st floor (including electrical, plumbing, carpentry & a new washer & dryer)
- Installing new flooring in Walt’s kitchen, dining and new laundry area
- Working with volunteers to help him remove some of his belongings and those of his wife who had passed away. This process inspired Walt to declutter and go through items that hadn’t been touched since his wife’s passing, four years earlier. Project Home removed items he was ready to part with and delivered many of them for donation.
Walt’s home is now safer and easier for him to live in. He was having difficulty going up and down stairs, which made laundry in the basement very challenging and all of the clutter was a major fire hazard. On the more personal side, it was a big step for him to finally go through his wife’s items and realize it was okay to part with all the things that didn’t carry significant meaning. With just a little help, Walt showed renewed pride in his home and the resolve to move forward from the loss of his life-partner and take better care of his home and himself.
“It’s not always easy to ask for help, especially as a proud veteran, but your work was needed and appreciated. It was becoming more challenging to go up and down the basement stairs and very difficult to carry a laundry basket at the same time. Having my laundry on the first floor now makes things much easier for me. Plus, I really like the new floor! Thank you for everything.” -Walt
Organization: Project Home (program that was specifically targeted for the Impact Award was “Serving Those Who Served”), 3841 Kipp Street, Madison
Contact: Jason Hafeman
Impact Award Amount: $16, 381