Giving Back to a Charlotte Family

As a builder of the Charlotte community, we are always drawn to others who are creating and investing in our area. That’s why we were honored to be asked to be a part of an incredibly special project benefiting a deserving family in need.

Chris and Kathy have two adult children who live with them. One of their children, Sarah, has autism and has always required constant supervision and therapies. The family has spent the last 18 years doing the best they could to raise Sarah and struggled to just get through the day. Having a child with autism has required them to forgo basic necessities, home repairs and sometimes even therapies.

To make matters worse, Chris fell at work two years ago, completely tearing his rotator cuff and bicep muscle, damaging his shoulder blade. It took workers compensation insurance an entire year before he was cleared to get his shoulder repaired. He awoke from surgery with a debilitating tremor in his dominant arm. It then took another year for doctors to tell him that the surgery brought on early onset Parkinson’s disease. Due to his tremor, the doctors are hesitant to do the surgery to repair his shoulder blade, leaving his right arm with limited mobility. This was a huge blow to Chris and his family. Not being unable to work full time for the last two years has made what was already a very hard situation, worse.

Home repairs were not an option for the family. A leaking toilet went unfixed, dry rot formed on the back of the house leaving a football size hole under a window, and appliances have been broken for years. It is now a health hazard for the family, due to mold and other significant safety issues in the house. A group of friends and strangers have come together to help the “Smurfs” renovate their home so they can live safely, and without worry.

Led by Shelley Reilley, several people and businesses in Charlotte have stepped up to help this family have a home they can live in. The repair list for this project was daunting and worsened the farther into the project Shelley got. “The original plan was to ‘freshen’ the house to bring cheer to this struggling family. As we got started on the project, we uncovered situations that made a facelift unfeasible. We had to gut much of the house.”

The project list grew rapidly, costing far more time and money than Shelly, a family friend, had accounted for. Some of the items to tackle included: