Thanks
to Compassionate Volunteers Julia Continues Living Independently
Julia
has faced many challenges with her developmental disabilities
and health problems in her 52 years of life. With the ability
to function at the level of an eight-year-old child, it was
quite a feat when Julia moved into her own mobile home. After
this move towards greater independence, Julia's payee Karen
(the person that helps her with paperwork and bills) said
that Julia's overall well-being vastly improved.
However,
during a recent inspection, the trailer park Julia lived in
was closed down. Karen thought it was best to move the mobile
home to another park, but L&I would not issue the necessary
permits to move her home because it had so many code violations
due to the homes age and poor condition. Julia did not have
the resources to afford the needed upgrades and remodeling,
so a search began for assistance.
That's
when Karen's church referred them to the Volunteer Chore Services
program at Catholic Community Services. Two volunteers were
immediately dispatched and began to work on Julia's mobile
home. They placed drywall around the water heater, furnace
and range, enlarged and replaced two bedroom windows, retrofitted
the electrical system, and installed smoke detectors to the
home to meet current fire codes. In addition, they repaired
a roof leak, leaky bathtub, and water damage done to the floor
from the leaky tub.
Thanks
to the help of United Way funded programs such as the Volunteer
Chore Services, Julia's home was saved and has since been
moved to a cleaner and safer community so that she may continue
to thrive and maintain independent living.
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