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HBA Restoring Hope’s 2013 Build By Dawn Wivell. Photos by Wayne Becker of Wayne Becker Photography
The Pieller Family Brian and Lisa Pieller knew the 100-yearold home they purchased in 2007 needed a lot of TLC. They moved their family– 9-year-old Ashley and 10-year-old Eric– into their ‘new’ 1,400 SF home and got to work. By 2010, they had completed many of the smaller projects, but hadn’t started on any of the major work. Then the unthinkable happened: Brian was killed in a tree-trimming accident at work. Lisa, a full-time medical assistant, was left with the responsibility of raising two teenagers and taking care of a home that still needed a lot of attention. She admits, “I would look around the house and think, ‘I should be able to fix that,’ but didn’t know how.” She said, “I had no clue, and I was afraid of making it worse.” 6
AT HOME IN BERKs october 2013
By 2013, the Pieller family was still living in a home with uneven floors, drafty doors, and a broken pellet stove (their only source of heat). A friend gave Lisa an application for the 2013 Restoring Hope Foundation Build, an all-expensepaid one week home makeover. Lisa decided to apply. On Tuesday, June 4, 2013, more than fifty people–including relatives, friends, members of Lisa’s church, Womelsdorf officials, and members of the Foundation–showed up on the Pieller’s front porch to tell them that they were the HBA Restoring Hope 2013 Build recipients (Editor’s Note: Watch the Candidate Announcement at www.HBArestoringHOPE.org). Lisa was shocked, but Christian D. Malesic,
Executive Officer at the Home Builders Association, said “We saw something in Lisa Pieller.”
The HBA Restoring Hope Foundation The HBA Restoring Hope Foundation, a non-profit organization, was established after the popular television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition came to Berks County in 2010. Many of Berks County HBA members who were involved with the Extreme Makeover project wanted to continue giving back to the community. The Restoring Hope Foundation was the answer. Its mission is “to construct solutions to address unique challenges of deserving people in Berks County,” its