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Left: Mike Dauncey, pastor of the Church in the Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church in Aldergrove, British Columbia, stands with the Scarrow family before their newly renovated home is revealed. Right: With her sister, single mom Sarah Scarrow (shoes in hand), takes a look around her new kitchen provided by the Extreme Home Repair (EHR) team.
Church and Community Volunteers
Complete Fifteenth
Home Renovation
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arah Scarrow, a 47-year-old single mother of three adopted children, didn’t mask her tears of joy as the bus blocking the view of her Aldergrove, British Columbia, house rolled away to reveal Church in the Valley’s fifteenth renovated home. Overwhelmed with emotion, the Canadian mom exclaimed, “My house is gorgeous; strangers did this for me!” Scarrow, a Christian but not an Adventist, works full-time, but most of her paycheck goes toward the mortgage, leaving little for home repair and upkeep. Extreme Home Repair (EHR) team member David Russell said in a May 24 Langley Advance story, “We’ve moved rooms, we put in a brand-new legal suite so she can use it to rent for
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income, plus we put in a new back entrance going downstairs to a new bonus room that they were not really using.” In all, repairs are estimated to be worth about $250,000. Scarrow was surprised to see just how much had changed. Her first impression when she turned the corner of her street was shock at the huge amount of people. She said to her children, “Wow! If those are the volunteers, I get to thank them all!” Josh Kwiatkowski knows the feeling. “The Church in the Valley dedicate so much time to a family they barely know; if more people were like that, everything would be better. I’ve never been a part of something so nice.” Kwiatkowski and his sister, Alex Weeks, have volunteered each year
Adventist World - nad | September 2016
since his mother’s home was renovated in 2010. “I’m not part of the church, but seeing all these people come together to help people they don’t know. . . . I’m just happy to help other people feel the same way,” he said. While this makeover is considered the most challenging one to date, with volunteers working right up to the reveal, project supervisor Lorne Brownmiller said, “Every year we have struggles. . . . To do what we do in 15 days is absolutely divine providence.” “The need is so great,” added Mike Dauncey, pastor of the church. “This is one way we can reach our community for Jesus in an unobtrusive way; just meeting people’s needs where they are.” Dauncey says that the program wouldn’t be the success it is without the huge community involvement. This year 85 construction sponsors, 100 church volunteers, and about 100 volunteers from the local community participated. Read the full report and watch the video: http://ow.ly/zHjD302e5yb. —Kimberly Luste Maran/NAD Communication