One of our greatest joys in the Hands on Housing program is getting to know our individual clients. They are each unique in personality and background. Our relationship with them often begins with an application request, then through the evaluation process and construction we get to know them better. Some continue to be in touch long after construction is completed.  One client we have been fortunate to get to know over several years is Ms. Gladys.

In Hands on Housing the funding we receive from the city of Austin is to insure that clients’ homes are safe and accessible. The stress is on functionality over aesthetics. Ms. Gladys however, had her own view of how things should be done and we didn’t always meet her standards of perfection. Our contractors graciously did what they could to provide top notch repairs with the limited time and funding. But Ms. Gladys was not entirely satisfied, so of course we were not either since our goal is to create a living space  that clients are proud of.

Soon, though, our hopes were answered by an amazing Handy Helper team from Oak Hill United Methodist Church. This team of dedicated volunteers  stepped up to help us complete smaller, more aesthetic repairs for our clients. For Ms. Gladys, they were able to replace the tiles in her bathroom as well as the towel bars and paper holder.

We cannot promise our clients perfection, primarily because each client has their own idea of what this means. However, with the support of teams such as Oak Hill United Methodist, we can take that extra step to bring the homes we work on closer to the clients’ individual visions.