Home Improvement Project | Hearts of Gold Foundation

Home Security Improved for the Ruales Family

When Hearts of Gold was alerted by partner organization, Fundaci?n El Arenal, about the precarious living situation of one of their families, Hearts of Gold set out with a team to assess the safety of their home and to learn from the family and the accompanying social workers how we could best help with a home improvement project.? The Ruales family home for eleven family members is located on the outskirts of Cuenca on a steep hillside and is inaccessible by vehicle.

Se?or Manuel and Se?ora Maria have 8 children and 3 grandchildren. Their eldest daughter lives illegally in the US and another one of their children has gotten married and lives in another part of town. They have seven guinea pigs that live on a bed of grass under the kitchen sink. Se?ora Maria works at the Feria Libre market during the week.

The home measures approximately 500 square feet, consists of a small kitchen and three other small rooms as well as a bathroom entered by way of an outside door opening.? Two of the three house doors were not locking doors and there was no door on the bathroom.? Without doors and locks, the threat of theft and damage to their home in this remote location was obvious. ?When the family is away, neighbors and others enter the home and borrow things? permanently.

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However, the Arenal Foundation?s social worker pointed out an even greater problem for the family.? Three of their children are too young to attend school. The parents cannot safely bring their children to work in town, nor can they afford childcare.? Therefore, like many struggling families here, they lock their youngest children inside the home to keep them out of sight of strangers. A home improvement project is necessary to keep the children safe until the parents arrive at the end of the work day.

Hearts of Gold volunteers, Tom Wine and Tony Hartwell, lead the initial visit to the home in June and revealed that to best secure the house, one door could be repositioned and a dead-bolt installed, a second door and door frame was needed, and a new custom door and frame was measured for the outside-access bathroom.? Additionally, a plan was made to allow for more light by cutting a window into the concrete block wall and installing a prefab window with safety bars.

Tom and Tony got to work right away sourcing the building supplies, having a door custom built, and gathering tools for the various jobs they would need to do on the job-site.

Tom also volunteered to drive out to the job site each workday, taking a helper or two with him.? The effort will take numerous visits and will cost about $300, but thanks to our generous donors and the helping hands of our resourceful volunteers, as of June 28, 2013 all the doors to the home were locking securely and the new window was cut out and framed and a safety grill installed.

Four of the children in this family attend Fundacion El Arenal, which serves over 40 at-risk families each year.? These four siblings will benefit from this year?s shoes and school supplies drive made possible by our generous Hearts of Gold donors.

With the improvements to their home, we expect that these children will continue to attend at El Arenal and go to school this coming September.

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Source: http://heartsofgoldfoundation.org/home-improvement-project/

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