Buncombe Street UMC is teaming up with Greenville’s Central Community Ministries, www.ccmsc.org, to remodel the home of 84 year old Mrs. Ware. The approximately 1000 sq. ft. home is at 25 Doe St. in West Greenville. Mrs. Ware’s daughter, Shirley, and great granddaughter, Aaliyah, live with her. The three of them live on less that $1000/mo. plus Shirley’s food stamps. Shirley is disabled and unable to work. Aaliyah is in Middle School at Berea.
The home has steadily deteriorated since the death of Mr. Ware in 1981. It is now to the point of being condemned by the City if the necessary repairs are not made. Obviously, they are not able to afford the expense of replacing the roof, windows, HVAC, floors & floor coverings, kitchen & bath updates, as well as correcting some code issues. If they do not receive the necessary help they will literally be homeless and on the street.
Fortunately, Mr. Ellis Beddingfield, Exec. Director of CCM, has received $20,000 in grant money from the State. This should be sufficient to purchase the materials. Now our prayer is that the men of BSUMC will ManUp and answer the call to provide the labor to make these essential upgrades to Mrs. Ware’s home.
PROJECT DETAILS
Work Sessions
Can you say frigid? In spite of temperatures in the teens both mornings we had 17 missionaries on Friday and 10 on Saturday who were willing to brave the tough conditions to remove the floors, floor joists and some walls in over half of the home. We were blessed Friday morning to pray with Mrs. Ware, Shirley and Aaliyah before beginning the project. Unbelievably, by lunch we had completed most of the demolition filling one plus 20 cubic yard dumpster. Speaking of lunch, many thanks to Tom and Popie Whitted and the Communion Class for providing us with excellent sandwiches. The afternoon moved a bit slower as the process of laying out the structural elements of the floor system began. The highlight was mixing concrete in a wheelbarrow for the support piers. By the end of the day the joists in the kitchen were pretty much complete. Fortunately, we had a couple of technical experts to make sure everything was done correctly, Clay Stevens with Clay’s Construction, and Graham Proffitt with Proffitt Builders. They regularly donate their time for Central Community Ministries.
Saturday began with a great devotion by Ed Goodson and was spent reconstructing the floor systems in the dining room and bedroom. There was an amazing amount of work done in a short period of time. We would like to thank The Women At The Well Bible Study for providing a wonderful lunch for the team. Thank you Bobbie Pritchard for setting it up and working all day. By the end of the day it became apparent that to do the job right we would need to completely demolish the bathroom and closet walls and start from scratch. Ed Goodson, Glen Boulton and KC Carter volunteered to meet Clay and his crew on Monday to get that done. We felt it was critical to get the bathroom framed up and the remainder of the floor completed so the electrician and plumber could get in and do their job before our return on Friday. We were graced on Monday by a surprise inspection from none other than Reverend Jerry Temple! Check out the pictures for proof. Mrs. Ware, Shirley and Aaliyah are going to have beautiful, safe and clean home to enjoy for many years to come thanks to the men and women of Buncombe Street.
This coming Friday and Saturday we will concentrate on th exterior of the home by putting on a new roof, replacing the windows and beginning the siding. We need lots of help. Please join us.
Work Sessions
We had a great turn out of very ambitious men and women both days. As a result we were able to get a whole lot accomplished including: shingles stripped, chimneys torn down, decking repaired and roofing felt on; all windows torn out, replaced and trimmed; house walls prepped for siding and “fan fold” insulating board installed; additional inside walls taken down, some studs replaced (no Bruce, I’m not talking about you!) and massive amounts of debris moved into dumpsters. Way to go guys and ladies. From this point we will take a week’s break to allow the plumbers, electrician and HVAC guys to do their thing. Graham will get all that inspected so we can insulate, hang sheetrock and put up siding on Feb. 6 & 7. Come join the fun.
