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June 29, 2007

‘God’s home makeover’

Organization helps renovate Corbin woman’s home

By Tim Woerner / Staff Writer

It’s not about personal recognition, she said, so her name won’t be in the first few sentences.

But to tell the story of a group of volunteers renovating a run-down home for a Corbin woman in need Thursday, it’s impossible to leave her out.

The home, on Monhollen Lane, belongs to Sue Price. And the way good Samaritans found out, said Melany Hanrahan, a coordinator for Friends for Families Ministry, was a message in the grandeur and vision of God’s plan.

Hanrahan was leaving Williamsburg in February when a car in front of her veered off the road. She stopped, called 911, and even went so far to help as to go to the hospital – the driver was injured but OK – and tell family members to call if they needed anything. One, Sue Price, did, and Hanrahan’s group provided food and company.

A year later, the group found out that the woman who’d called was living in a building with black, molded walls, sewage problems and no heat, badly in need of repair – but hadn’t asked for a bit of help herself.

“I thought, this is why God has me here,” Hanrahan said. “It’s a home makeover, but it’s God’s home makeover.”

Still, the complications didn’t stop there. A group of 100 volunteers that had originally planned to come out ran into unexpected complications with an illness of a church member and scheduling conflicts.

Friends for Families, which functions partially as a scheduling agent to allow multiple volunteer groups to function efficiently, had lined up helpers to rebuild, but was without a work force to get the project off the ground.

Yet, as if on cue, Hanrahan received a message from a professor at University of the Cumberlands asking for help supporting a backyard Bible club. And a youth group from White Sulfur Baptist Church in Georgetown sent word they were heading to Corbin on a mission trip.

“This group did not come for construction,” Hanrahan said of the volunteers pitching in Thursday. “They did not come to work like dogs, but they’ve not complained. Cleanup and destruction had to take place first for all this other work to take place.”

The result has been a happy marriage of efforts for everyone. Crews tore out walls Thursday, filling two dumpsters with debris and stripping the inside of the building in preparation for repair. White Sulfur Baptist Church alone brought more than $150 in donated supplies and a $500 check from a donor.

“You could not believe the hugs and the love,” said Price. “Nobody’s said a nasty word.”

And Hanrahan added she hoped the work would spur more to come.

“I just want people to see how God works,” she said. “Once this group leaves, Sue’s still gonna need support. It’s all good to go and help somebody, but when people leave where are they at? Who’s going to keep giving them hope? Anybody and everybody can help.”

For more information, call Melany Hanrahan and Friends for Families at 215-0027.

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