Sonia & Tony
Writing a new story
This lovely couple are in their 70’s, living in a house with a rusted and leaking metal roof, rotten wooden walls and a cracked foundation. Tony needs dialysis frequently, on top of other medical conditions.
Eileen, from our team, asks what their resources are. Sonia is passionate about writing. We used to write kids stories, novels and biographies. When she was younger, a social worker told her that writing wasn’t a real profession, so she went home that day and burned all the stories she’d written.
When Eileen left their home, a neighbor jokingly remarked: “Hey there. Visiting sick people?”, to which Eileen replied, “No. Visiting a writer.”
As part of our Asset Based Community Development approach, we asked Sonia to re-ignite her lost passion for writing, to contribute to their project. By the time construction wrapped, Sonia had written 3 kids books and 10 poems.
In fact, she wrote poems for most individual volunteer teams that served on their new home.
Sonia & Tony’s brand-new home
Phase 2:
Solar Power
Tony’s condition requires him to live in an air conditioned home. Our best solution was to install a solar power system, which was outside the family’s budget and our own.
A volunteer that had worked on their home heard about this and donated the entire system anonymously. SonLight Power is partnering with us to asses their power usage needs and install the panels and batteries.
Installation begins on September 25th, 2023.
Stay tuned to our social channels for updates!
