FAMILY’S HOME REMADE THANKS TO YOUR SEASON FOR CARING DONATIONS
“Oh, I’m glad I’m home,” Joyce Marvel, 74, said as she walked back into her condo Tuesday and looked around at how much it had changed. “It looks nice.”
CG&S Design-Build home remodeling company and its vendors transformed the space. New vinyl floors that look like wood replaced the almost black carpet. The floors are now one level, too, which makes getting around in her walker easier for Joyce.
A fresh coat of paint brightens the walls. A new sliding glass door opens onto the back patio.
In the kitchen, donated appliances replace broken ones. The cabinets are now straight.
“Oh, Lord, the difference,” Marvel said as she looked at the walk-in closet. The shelves are no longer falling in on themselves.
The biggest difference, though, is the bathroom. It has been completely remodeled and made accessible with a fold-down bench in a new shower, plus rails, a new toilet, a new vanity and shelves. CG&S outfitted the bathroom with towels, a shower curtain, laundry basket, trash can and soap dispenser in Marvel’s favorite colors: yellow and black.
“Oh, boy,” she said. “It’s nice now.”
Her husband, Kenneth, 65, went to work, putting away groceries, and going through the closet to throw out old stuff they no longer needed.
Both Marvels have intellectual disabilities. They have been together since they were in their 20s and had been able to buy the condo with the settlement she got 10 years ago after she was hit by a bus, which left her using the walker.
The Marvels were chosen to be part of the Statesman Season for Caring charitable program, which tells the stories of 12 featured families and then helps hundreds of others through local nonprofit agencies. The Marvels were nominated by Family Eldercare.
From Thanksgiving through January, Season for Caring raised $1,056,340 in monetary and in-kind donations — the most in the program’s 19 years.
The remodel, which was estimated to be about $25,000, was the third time CG&S Design-Build has remodeled a home for a Season for Caring family. In 2016, the company turned an extra bedroom into an accessible bathroom
for a veteran, who had been using buckets for toilets. In 2014, CG&S improved a home that had been flooded by Onion Creek for an elderly couple.
“It’s become a really wonderful tradition,” said Iris Davis-Quick, the company’s marketing director. On the day Season for Caring appears in the paper, she gets a call from her mother, Dolores Davis, the company’s general manager, and they read the stories together to see how they can help. A photo of Gordon Meeler, the veteran who needed a bathroom, hangs in the CG&S offices. “It constantly reminds us of why we are here,” Davis-Quick said.
The Marvels’ condo had fallen into disrepair when the American-Statesman first met them in October. “It’s a
‘It’s really exciting. The biggest thing for me was the bathrooms and the floors for her safety.’ Shelley Aubuchon Family Eldercare’s money management case manager who works with the Marvels
great place to live. We like it,” Kenneth Marvel said at that time. “But we do need a lot of help.”
It had both mold and bedbugs. Fixing the bathroom and the kitchen and replacing the floors would not have been possible on Kenneth Marvel’s paycheck as a dishwasher at El Mercado restaurant.
Season for Caring dona- tions helped remove the bedbugs and pay for a hotel room for the Marvels since the end of February while work was being done in the condo. Funds also paid for extra care for Joyce Marvel and transportation to work for Kenneth Marvel. Factory Mattress donated a new bed, and Season for Caring money provided new bedding for it.
“It’s really exciting,” said Shelley Aubuchon, Family Eldercare’s money management case manager who works with the Marvels. “The biggest thing for me was the bathrooms and the floors for her safety.”
“Thank you for letting us help you in your home,” Davis-Quick said to Joyce Marvel as CG&S was turning the house keys back over to the Marvels on Tuesday.
“I’m so glad to be home,” Marvel kept saying.