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A family of five in California now has a safer home due to a project partially funded by the North American Retail Hardware Association.
NRHA provided The Fuller Center for Housing of Los Angeles with a $1,000 matching grant to help Gabriel and Irene Villicana of Long Beach and their three children.
When partnering with NRHA, The Fuller Center buys project supplies from local independent home improvement retailers. The organization bought products from Ganahl Lumber of Los Alamitos, California, for the work at the Villicanas’ home.
The Fuller Center, a nonprofit organization that works to eliminate poverty housing, contributed $935 toward the project, which included repairs to fix safety issues in the house, such as plumbing that wasn’t up to code and holes in the walls.
The Fuller Center chose to help the Villicana family because Gabriel Villicana is disabled and currently going through cancer treatment, David Howard, board president for the Los Angeles organization, says. The repairs wouldn’t have been possible without the NRHA grant, he says.
A crew of 35 volunteers from The Fuller Center recently installed a new pantry, painted hallways and three rooms, installed eight new interior doors, renovated the master bedroom closet, repaired walls and replaced a toilet.
“The house was unsafe,” Howard says.
The recent repairs are the beginning of what will probably be a three-phase renovation of the Villicana home, he says.
