Scooter Project
Mar-Apr 2011
Aloha, OR

The following excerpts are taken from a handwritten ‘thank you’ letter from our April, 2011 project recipient (homeowner wished to remain anonymous, 'Scooter' is the name of her little dog).

“Thank you, Catalyst Partnerships, for your awesome giving to help me and my manufactured home. It was a truly humbling experience for this Senior Citizen. The entire process was well organized with professionalism, quality, respect and compassion. My “basket of needs” included patching, texturing, painting, staining, replacing old worn-out parts with new quality parts, replacing burned-out or dim light bulbs with new & better ones, fixing my back door, installing new weather-stripping, vinyl floor repair, and replacing my old worn-out front porch light with one I can easily replace the bulb in. It was an overwhelming experience to watch the detailed preciseness of the workers’ skilled efforts. Praises and praises for such humanitarian care to Catalyst Partnerships!”

-An overwhelmed project recipient

 

Homeowner has lived in the same Aloha manufactured home for almost 18 years. She is 73 years old, and lives alone. Until recently, she worked full time in Food Service for a local university; but due to recent payroll cutbacks, her hours were dropped to part-time. She receives monthly funds from both Social Security and Unemployment (until her hours return to full time), but is having severe financial struggles. There are several minor repairs and maintenance items needed at her home, but her greatest need is heat. Last year, her heat pump broke. Two independent HVAC companies have determined that the nearly 20 year old unit needs to be replaced, at an estimated cost of $4,000. All winter long, she has only been able to turn on her furnace’s “emergency heat” twice daily, and also has been relying on space heaters and her electric kitchen oven to keep her home as warm as possible. Her home has been so cold that the formica countertops in her kitchen and bathrooms have been delaminating! I assured her that we can certainly help her with the repairs around her home, but replacing her heat pump is far beyond our reach financially. We are working on community partnerships that will hopefully bring people and organizations together to provide for this big need, even as we make little repairs around her home.