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Categories: Family Stories, Home Repair, Habitat Tucson

Aging in Place Restores Independence for Local Couple

Karen and Robert have now been in their Tucson, Carriage Park neighborhood home for 28 years. They’ve cultivated great friendships and a strong sense of community with their neighbors, many of them also originally from Michigan.

Robert and Karen are both 75-years-old and their home has been aging along with them.

“We had a leak in the roof that was coming down into the living room,” says Robert. “I used to be able to get up on the roof to see what the problem was, but not at this age.

A friend of the Clemens told them about Habitat Tucson’s home repair program.

Habitat Tucson’s Aging in Place (AIP) program is a home repair program that serves local limited-income senior citizens and focuses on accessibility improvements, mobility modifications, enhancements and critical home repairs that are crucial to help seniors live in their own homes longer.

Habitat Tucson’s mission through this program is to make continued homeownership for Tucson seniors a reality so they can age in place with the comfort and dignity they deserve.

Habitat Tucson repaired and recoated Robert and Karen’s roof, installed low energy windows, performed minor repairs to their bathtub, and added a grab rail in their bathroom for safe accessibility.

[mk_image heading_title=”Before ” src=”https://habitattucson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/before.jpg”][mk_image heading_title=”After” src=”https://habitattucson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/after.jpg”]Amazing volunteers from Raytheon, performed a ‘A Brush With Kindness” project by completely painting the fascia around Karen and Robert’s house.

Robert said he didn’t anticipate the thoroughness and the scope of the repairs completed by volunteers. “They did so much work and it was outstanding. The crew that put in the work was such a pleasure to be around,” says Robert.

[mk_image src=”https://habitattucson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/dscf0354.jpg”]When asked what home means to them Robert looked over at Karen sitting on the couch with their dog, Shadow, and replied, “Home means her.”

Karen and Robert are enormously grateful to Raytheon and Habitat Tucson supporters for restoring the exterior of their home to its original beauty.

“We are so blessed to have found you,” said Robert.

Everyone deserves a decent place to live, and everyone can do something today to help make that possible for another family. Thanks to the hard work of engaged residents, partnerships with civic and business groups, and a renewed community spirit, Habitat Tucson is able to respond to community aspirations and empower residents to revive their neighborhoods and enhance their quality of life.

Interested in how you can get can help improve the lives of families in your neighborhood? Click here.

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