ABWK Provides Resources For Repairs Through Homeowner Team Program

A Brush with Kindness is a neighborhood outreach program within Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity that paints, repairs and restores the homes of low-income residents, especially those experiencing challenging circumstances such as single parent families, advanced age, disability or poor health. This program helps homeowners remain in safe and affordable homes.

While the majority of the families we serve are not physically capable of accomplishing their home repairs, some applicants are simply lacking the skills, education, and resources to do the work themselves. The A Brush with Kindness program understands the different challenges homeowners face, and therefore has developed a wide variety of strategies to help homeowners of all different skills and abilities. The “Homeowner Team” program is an example of one of these strategies.

Through the Homeowner Team program, homeowners seeking assistance with home repair projects are provided with the materials they need, and instructed by experienced staff members how to do the work themselves. This strategy is designed to empower homeowners to use the resources and education they are provided through the A Brush with Kindness program to take on projects now and in the future.

The Moua family is a single parent family living in St. Paul that is currently participating in the Homeowner Team program. A Brush with Kindness provided the family with paint and painting equipment to revitalize the interior of their home. A Brush with Kindness staff members and AmeriCorps workers spent a day working alongside the family teaching them the most effective techniques to accomplish the repairs. Through the help provided by the A Brush with Kindness program, the Moua family has gained the knowledge, skills, and confidence to take on projects in the future.

Kathryn from White Bear Township applied to A Brush with Kindness after losing her job and finding herself unable to spend money on home maintenance projects that she was physically capable of, and willing to do herself. A Brush with Kindness gave Kathryn tools to wash, scrape, prime and paint the exterior of her home. By doing the work herself, Kathryn was able to regain a sense of control over her situation.

The Homeowner Team program is an integral part of A Brush with Kindness, showing homeowners their own ability to improve their environment and unburden themselves from the stress of unstable living conditions.