HAMILTON, Ohio — More than 250 volunteers from across the country are working to improve homes for low-income, elderly and disabled residents in Butler County this week.
The massive project is a collaboration between Hamilton-based Community Action Agency, Supports to Encourage Low-Income Families (SELF) and the Group Cares Foundation from Colorado.
"We have volunteers from 10 different states here for an entire week and work on 30 homes," said Carie Schultz, Community Relations with SELF. "We work on homes for people who are low-income, disabled, elderly and need things like wheelchair ramps or any kind of accessibility or safety modifications that will help them stay safely in their homes."
I went to Hamilton to see firsthand how these volunteers are making a difference in our community.
Eighteen youth groups are participating in the service project. Many are here for mission trips with their church, like Lilyana Moceri from Sterling Heights, Michigan.
"I really just want to spread the Gospel, like to spread God to all these lovely people, and help them start fresh," said Moceri.
This is Moceri's second mission trip. On Monday, volunteers are helping an elderly woman who needs a hip replacement by building a brand new wheelchair ramp for her home.
Youth volunteers paint and build a wheelchair ramp for elderly Butler County residents:
Income-qualified homeowners can apply online for assistance. For residents like 75-year-old Sandra Carter, who has been receiving help for several years after seeing a flyer, the program has been invaluable.
"Volunteers are from high school from all over the states — Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana — they're here to paint the interior of my home," said Carter. "They cleaned the gutters on my garage, the gutters had fallen and they repaired them."
What started as a one-week event in 2019 has now expanded into a year-round program aimed at improving safety, accessibility and neighborhood stability in Butler County.
"People who cannot afford to make these repairs on their own, or have mobility issues, must have some way to stay safely in their homes, and this program provides that for them," said Schultz.
