The seventh annual Restoring Hope Foundation Build began Sept. 7 and continues through Sept. 15. Hundreds of volunteers join together to provide a hand up (not a hand out) to a local family with a one-week home makeover.
The Big Reveal, on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 1 p.m., is open to the public. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the home from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to see first-hand the work completed by the volunteers and to welcome the family home.
This year’s winner, Jamie Noll, is a single mom and full-time clerk at the welfare office. While raising her two daughters Samantha, 13, and Aubrey, 8, – Jamie has been taking classes to earn a degree with the goal of becoming a caseworker. She says, “I want my girls to know that hard work pays off.”
Jamie purchased a small townhouse in Leesport and has been slowly making repairs as finances allow. But, the family is still living with drafty windows, a faulty heating system, and a dysfunctional kitchen.
When asked why this family was chosen from the many applications the Foundation received, Diane Salks, current RHF chair, said, “Jaimie is a hard-working mother of two girls. She tries to show her girls the value of hard work by working while attending classes. We hope that we can help her by taking the burden of fixing up her home off of her hectic schedule.”
The mission of the HBA Restoring Hope Foundation is “to construct solutions to address unique challenges of deserving people in Berks County,” its goal is to help restore the lives of middle-income working families who have fallen on tough times, and its focus is on giving a “hand up, not a hand out.” Salks, says, “Remember- we are about helping middle-class working families. I think that sometimes people think that we are here to only help low-income and that just isn’t the case.”
For more information, go to www.HBArestoringHOPE.org.
