Building New Lives at MUST Ministries

ATLANTA - Oct. 11, 2019 - PRLog -- HomeAid Atlanta brought volunteers from Atlanta home builder Brightwater Homes to MUST Ministries in Marietta for a Care Day on October 1.

HomeAid Care Days provide free-of-charge maintenance and repairs for nonprofit facilities serving Atlanta's homeless population. MUST Ministries provides emergency and permanent supportive housing, as well as programs and supportive services, for families and individuals experiencing homelessness in Cobb and Cherokee Counties, and beyond.  MUST Ministries' Marietta facility provides permanent supportive housing for individuals who are chronically homeless and live with either physical or mental disabilities.

Volunteers worked on several tasks in two apartment units at the facility including installing new flooring, light fixtures, and air vents, and painting the interiors of both apartments.  Brightwater Homes generously donated lights, air vents, ceiling fans, shoe molding, and flooring supplies. Sherwin-Williams donated paint, William M. Bird provided a generous discount on flooring, and TranSouth Logistics kindly delivered the flooring free of charge. These donations and the hard work of volunteers provided a savings of $8,000 for MUST Ministries.

Savings like these allow MUST Ministries to spend less on facility maintenance and instead spend more on programs and services to help people like Willie. Willie is an Alabama native who moved in with a cousin in Atlanta. He became addicted to drugs and got involved with criminal activity as a result. When another addict pulled a knife on him in an argument over $5, Willie realized something had to change. A MUST Ministries staff member referred him to a caseworker, helped him make doctors' appointments and enroll in an anger management class. Eventually Willie was placed in an apartment with MUST's Permanent Supportive Housing program. "I can breathe. When I go to sleep, I don't have to worry about my stuff getting stolen. I'm on a whole new level. I feel like the sky is the limit," said Willie.

This was Brightwater Homes second HomeAid Care Day of 2019 and their fifth since 2015. "Brightwater has a really great team. Their knowledge, expertise, and dedication make it such a pleasure to work with them. Not many companies would close their entire operation for a whole day to give back. We are so fortunate to have such dedicated and talented volunteers that help us build new lives!" said Karen McLane, HomeAid Director of Community Outreach.