For years, 54-year-old Ethel Washington watched her house slowly deteriorate. It was still livable, but she knew its problems were building. The eaves of the roof had separated from the house, and water had gotten behind the fascia boards, causing them to rot.

“It was just going down so bad, and my insurance was talking about canceling me,” she said. “It was deteriorating.”

But because of back and leg pain, Washington had a hard time even moving around her Daphne home, much less repairing it. A couple of days of work would fix the problem and considerably extend the life of her home, but she couldn’t afford to pay someone to do it for her.

An obvious need

Nearly 4,000 other Baldwin County residents face similar problems, said Sally Deane, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries.

“When volunteers would go into the communities to find out what are the serious problems, home repair kept coming up,” Deane said. “Especially for the elderly and low-income — they are basically watching their homes deteriorate, and some of it is just minor repair needs. If someone would go in and fix a hole in their roof, it would prevent it from becoming not livable.”

Ecumenical Ministries has always had a home repair program, but it only served disabled and elderly people in Ecumenical Ministries’ service areas. Central and north Baldwin County had great need for a more encompassing program, and there were many low-income families that didn’t qualify for Ecumenical’s home repair service.

Repair Baldwin

Out of this need, Repair Baldwin was born.

It serves to repair homes at a critical time, preventing them from becoming unlivable. 

“We’re beginning to see that over a period of time if we can catch these homes within this period, and we go in basically with $1,000 and a repair team, we can save that house from deteriorating,” Deane said.

The program is the joint effort of Ecumenical Ministries, Habitat for Humanity of Baldwin County and Eastern Shore Affordable Houses. It was recently awarded $106,000 from Impact 100, a local women’s organization that awards large grants to Baldwin County nonprofit organizations.

Having the funding has jump started the program, Deane said.

“With Impact money, we’re able now to really get started with getting our teams out there to get the projects done,” she said. “A lot of people understood the concept and are really into it. It’s a community answer to a growing problem.”

The Impact 100 grant will last for two years, and after that, Deane said she is confident the program will earn funding from other organizations. 

“With Impact, because they want to locally fund projects here, you do not have to have a track record to take to them,” Deane said. “So two years from now, when we’re done with the Impact money, we will have built our track record, so we will be able to go outside of the county and show how many homes we’ve built and that it works.”

Churches and other volunteer groups have stepped up to provide labor and some of the materials needed for the repairs, but Deane said there is still a great need for skilled contractors to volunteer their time to lead teams.

One home at a time

Since last March, 30 homes have been repaired through the program, including Ethel Washington’s.

A team came to her home earlier this month to repair the rotting fascia boards, fix the roof and even put up handrails around the house to help Washington move around more easily.

Washington said she was not only grateful for the work done to her home, but also for the compassion shown to her by the volunteers.

“They were so spiritual — we had prayer before they started, we had prayer when they got through,” Washington said. “I go to church, and I’m very encouraged about everything I do, but they gave me more encouragement and more faith in what I already have. To know there are very nice and very gentle people in the world who are willing to help you without you paying them — they’re really God-sent people, out on a mission for the Lord.”

Repair Baldwin’s ultimate goal is to have 100 churches take on two repair projects per year, Deane said.

“That would be 200 projects a year,” she said. “We’re not going to be there right away — it’s a growing process.”

To find out more about volunteering or to apply for repairs, contact Ecumenical Ministries at 251-928-3430 or email info@repairbaldwin.org.

Eligibility for repairs:

• Property must be owner occupied and applicant must be able to prove ownership

• Total household income is less than 50% of the county’s median income

• Be willing to earn “sweat equity” by working with volunteers or helping in the process, depending on physical ability

• Mobile homes must not be more than 15 years old and the repairs cannot exceed 50 percent of the trailer's value

• Repairs needed are preventative in nature to keep the house from further deterioration