DEARBORN, Mich. – The inside of a Dearborn home is getting a much-needed makeover as volunteers prepare it for a veteran.
Workers are tearing out counters, removing flooring and gutting an entire bathroom.
"Oh yeah, this is fun,” volunteer Susan Col said. “We were excited. This is the first home donation project that was a demolition. So when the word went out to our volunteers, it was not hard to get these volunteers here today."
The volunteers are from Bank of America, and they donated their time for Wednesday's project after the company donated the home for a good cause.
"It's amazing,” said Eric Pickard, of the Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals. “We're giving the one thing that people want, and that's home ownership."
The home was donated to VAREP and, once completed, will be given away as a mortgage-free home to a Metro Detroit veteran.
"The veterans give their lives, and the families deal with the repercussions,” Pickard said. “It's our way of saying thanks and give back. This is an organization that's needed because, unfortunately, there's not enough education and there's not enough financial literacy to give to veterans to sustain home ownership."
Right now, the inside of the home is destroyed, but a contractor plans to turn it into a three-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow in just 60 days.
"When it's all said and done, what is this place going to look like?” Local 4’s Evrod Cassimy asked.
“Gorgeous," Pickard said. "It's going to be completely repainted, rehabbed, renovated. There's nothing in this house that's going to look the same."
The physical labor is the easy part. Finding and selecting one veteran to receive the home when it's finished is the bigger challenge.
For more information, e-mail RMercado@varep.net.