Restoring more than homes
Nonprofit says workdays' impact goes beyond repairs
Nonprofit RestoreOKC's approach to volunteer home repair for the needy is deep and wide: “Sure, at one level it is roofs and paint and home repairs. But, it is so much more than that.”
Every second Saturday of the month, volunteers meet at RestoreOKC, 2222 NE 27, and spend half a day working at someone's home in northeast
Oklahoma City, or there at the organization's headquarters and community garden.
Each time, they spend about $500 for materials. The real investment is in sweat. Last year, RestoreOKC said, the weekly workdays resulted in about $150,000 in free home repairs, which helped homeowners get out from under city fines and fees and helped keep them in their homes.
It's a Christian community development organization. See more details at RestoreOKC. org. Donate money or labor
— or apply for assistance — at WorkdayOKC.org.
On the main website, directors
Caylee Dodson and Ernest Odunze talk about the organization's calling. It is much more than restoring homes. It's a call to do justice.
Deep
“We live in an age of extreme polarization. Police shootings on the news. Racial trauma constantly provoked by media. Our history is so filled with segregation, hurt and mistrust that it can seem tempting to resign ourselves and not bother attempting anything different. Yet, we don't believe that it is our calling,” they wrote. “We believe that the `impossible divisions' can be crossed and we can learn how to live in genuine, reconciled community.
“We believe that it is our calling to embrace joy and wisdom as we seek a power much greater than ourselves to see reconciliation happen in communities like ours that have been marked by deep injustice, oppression and division. In order to get there we believe that we have to listen well, understand history, steward wisely and ultimately walk humbly.
“Working alongside one another to utilize the assets and strengths of our shared community for the good of our neighbors within it is counterintuitive and in many ways countercultural as it means putting people before profit and thinking deeply about what it means to do justice. It won't be easy or always pretty. But, we believe it's profound. Unity is possible because the greatest power of all is love.”
Foundational
RestoreOKC knows the power of story — not only to tell, but to uphold and inspire. Here's one of its stories.
“We're seeing neighbors love one another as themselves and we think it's shaking things up and changing history. Last year, we had a neighbor with a roof that had leaked for more than 10 years. A long history of discriminatory housing and home loan practices along with imminent domain and unjust practices for renewal in the city meant a scared senior home owner.
“Like many, she needed repairs but her home had some issues with the title, which meant that she was ineligible for city services or any programs that received state or federal funding. An investor had attempted to swindle her out of her home and she wasn't sure who to trust and how to proceed.
“On the morning that our teams arrived to help it was rainy and cool and she had prepared cider for them all and invited them in once the repairs were done for the morning and began to play the piano for them all, which turned into an impromptu concert led by a widow who had every earthly reason to complain, but chose joy.
“Now, we aren't experts in community development or city renewal, but we think something foundational shook that morning. We believe that true reconciliation happens in moments just like these. Moments where we listen well and allow someone else to see things differently than us without breaking fellowship. Where we all give what we can. Where we learn just how much we don't know and let that change us so that we begin to think together about how we work to seek justice and love mercy and members of one body.”
Wide
Testimony tells the tale. From Restore OKC. org:
• “My roof leaked for more than 10 years. My title work wasn't clean due to some deaths in the family so I wasn't eligible for city services or grant funded programs, and I couldn't afford to fix it. Workday helped me apply for Legal Aid, but didn't wait to make the repair as I had developed a lung condition as a result of the mold exposure. They reroofed my home and tore out all the drywall so I am no longer living in mold.” — a northeast OKC widow/senior/ neighbor/friend.
• “My mother hadn't had running water in her home for years, except a trickle from the bathtub and even then it was only cold. Workday gave my mom a working kitchen sink and some other small repairs to help her age in her home safely.” — a neighbor of RestoreOKC.
• “City citations were piling up due to peeling paint and I didn't know how I could ever afford them, much less the paint. My home is my only asset, so this left me wondering what was next. Workday stepped in and worked with me, the city and a group of volunteers who painted my home.” — a dear friend, neighbor /senior.
“Sure, at one level it is roofs and paint and home repairs. But, it is so much more than that.”