Macomb County Habitat For Humanity | Volunteer
A Brush With Kindness
What We Do
Macomb County Habitat for Humanity works with low-income, elderly, disabled, veterans and military family homeowners to maintain and repair their homes. The A Brush with Kindness program helps to ensure that families are living in safe and well-maintained homes. It also helps to keep homeowners in their present homes, while protecting their financial investments and restoring the dignity and pride of home ownership. Finally, it promotes the revitalization of the surrounding neighborhood.
We partner with the local city and city organizations/fraternal groups to provide volunteers and resources to repair these homes at very little or sometimes no cost to the homeowner. If the repairs/maintenance are critical and a large cost, we have some resources that will provide the homeowner with assistance in the form of grants, loans or match-dollar loans (some of which are forgivable as long as the homeowner stays in the home for a specified number of years).
How We Do It
In each city, it is important to locate a small group of prominent citizens who would agree to be community leaders. We would ask community leaders to spread the word about the A Brush With Kindness program, by speaking to all the community groups such as Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Kiwanis, VFW, etc. Community leaders would also be working with Habitat’s staff, including the ABWK Construction Manager and Director of Strategic Programs. It will take all these people, staff and volunteers, to complete this program in each area.
The defined area will be determined by census tract. An introductory letter has been developed that will go out to each homeowner within that census tract. If they would like to participate in the program, they can then pick up an application at Habitat’s Administrative offices, local City Halls or nearby churches. The applications would need to be turned in by the specified due date, at which time Habitat would determine if the applicants qualify under the program's criteria. We would then notify and meet with the homeowner to discuss the repairs/maintenance to be done, their involvement in the project and review the process. The project will be completed in a pre-determined time period to ensure all projects are completed efficiently.
The construction department will survey all supplies, tools, materials and staff needed for each project. They will also schedule all work leaders, site hosts and volunteers for each project. The ABWK Supervisor will visit with the homeowner to review the needed repairs, answer any questions and make the homeowner comfortable with the scope of the project.
When the scheduled date arrives, materials, supplies, tools and the entire team of staff and volunteers will converge on the neighborhood. Prior to and during this time, we will need full cooperation from the community and local government. Depending on what type of maintenance/repairs are to be done within the area, the work may take anywhere from a couple of days to weeks. What is important to realize is it is reasonable to expect some media coverage and, in fact, we encourage it. When the work is complete, we pick-up and clean-up the area leaving it better than we found it.