"Make a Difference Day"

The Rebuilding Together OKC staff and volunteers are in the process of improving the living conditions of Treva Clark's home. Rebuilding Together OKC received a $10,000 grant from the national Rebuilding Dreams Together contest sponsored by Choice Hotels. Online voters picked Treva's story as the one most deserving of the grant. Treva's story is one that illustrates the difficulty that many senior citizens face to age in place in their home homes safe, warm and dry.

Treva, 68, has some heart problems and is also caring for one of her daughters who recently had a kidney transplant. Treva submitted an application to Rebuilding Together OKC as her ceiling is falling down in several rooms, and her home has numerous electrical and heating problems. Her house was heavily damaged in the May hailstorm, and the contractor she paid to fix it tore up the floors and cabinets and then left before finishing the job. Since then, sheets have hung in place of cabinet doors. Because of the grant from Choice Hotels, Ms. Clark will have new kitchen cabinets, appliances, light fixtures and ceiling fans. Also, she will have trim replaced, new doors and baseboards in the entire house, electrical and plumbing repairs, and rooms painted in different colors so the visually impaired homeowner, Treva, can easily tell which room she is in.

On October 28, 2010, executives from Choice Hotels (which owns hotel chains that include EconoLodge and Rodeway Inn), Rebuilding Together OKC and Rebuilding Together National, will come together to help make this part of "Make a Difference Day". The day will begin at 8:30 am with the volunteers arriving, opening remarks around 9:15 am, and then work to begin around 9:45 am until approximately 3:30 pm..

Treva's "was just a very compelling story. She's a delightful woman, works hard at her church, believes strongly, has a good family. She takes care of them; they take care of her," Jean Derry, coordinator of Rebuilding Together OKC's Year-Round Program said about picking her story to submit to the contest. "They are a family that just seemed nice to do work for."