For homeowners unable to make necessary home renovations that would vastly improve their quality of life, help is a couple of clicks away.
It’s up to those who know them to put forth a nomination that, for the lucky recipient, will be the ultimate Christmas gift.
The Extreme Home Repair project, coordinated by the Aldergrove Adventist Church’s Acts of Kindness program, is open to nominations.
“We have three that we are considering but we’d like to have a few more,” Aldergrove Adventist Church pastor Mike Dauncey said. “We are aiming to help people who aren’t able to fix up their own homes due to financial or health reasons.”
The deadline to submit a nomination has been extended to Dec. 10 and a key stipulation is that the nominee(s) must be a homeowner and must not own more than one property.
After receiving a nomination, the Extreme Home Repair team will set up a time to view the house.
In May, the recipients move out of their home to allow the team of roughly 200 volunteers – including tradespeople – to do their renovation work, with the reveal on Victoria Day.
Dozens of local businesses also lend their support and supplies to the program.
To submit a nomination, visit aokaldergrove.org, then click on the “community programs” tab, and once there, on the right-hand side of the page, click on “Extreme Home Repair.”
After that, click on “Nominate a home for repair” and fill out the online form.
The good news is typically delivered to the chosen recipient on Christmas Eve.
“We get whoever is available, as many as can make it during the day,” Dauncey said. “We go as a group and we usually give them flowers and have a video camera rolling, and quite often there are tears of joy and disbelief.”
Dauncey said telling a family they have been chosen as recipients “is a really fun moment; a rewarding experience.”
“It’s just so great to bring joy into someone’s life,” Dauncey said. “It’s such a great feeling.”
A large majority of the ERH nominations and projects have taken place in Aldergrove because, Dauncey said, “that’s where we are best known.”
That said, homeowners in both Langley Township and Langley City as well as Aldergrove qualify for help, if they are chosen.
“We believe God will lead us to the right family,” Dauncey said.
A past recipient is the Dunn family, who in 2013 moved out of their home for 15 days, allowing the volunteers to renovate their now 32-year-old, three-bedroom rancher that had suffered significant water damage and was in need of a new roof.
Dunn said the renovations changed her life in a “huge” way.
“Financially, it saved us a lot in the sense of the heating costs, which went to a quarter of what I used to pay, and electricity, where I pay a third of what I used to pay,” Dunn said.
