Habitat for Humanity has partnered with Marshall Industries in a volunteer project to fix the roof of a house of a woman in her 80s.
Habitat for Humanity house co-ordinator Dave Hope said the woman, who asked not to be named for privacy reasons, would not be able to afford the work necessary to keep her house warm and leak-free.
He said they were working with her as part of the organisation’s home repair programme, which helps modest-income homeowners needing critical maintenance and repairs by lending money to them interest-free to do the work required.
From minor repairs to major projects, the programme was delivered to address the affordability challenges associated with keeping your home healthy, accessible and safe, he said.
"We're in the business of keeping people in houses and to get people into houses because we believe that if a person stays in a house, then that's where everything's grounded."
He said the applicant goes through an assessment to guarantee they can repay the loan while also keeping their finances in order.
The loan would be up to $15,000 and would need to be repaid in four years, Mr Hope said.
"I think we helped about five to six people over the last two years with this programme," he said.
The elderly woman applied for this programme to have help to fix her shower which was leaking and the roof, but the shower "used the contingency that it had left", he said.
Mr Hope then approached Marshall Industries to see if they could help and general manager George Wishart happily stepped in.
"We were more than happy to help out people in the community — there's no doubt about that," Mr Wishart said.
"I put a call out to my staff to see who would help out and volunteer their own time at a weekend and out of all my staff [20 people] I had eight putting their hand up ... which was actually a huge deal for us."
Mr Wishart was heartened by the support from staff who went above and beyond to help. One of his workers changed his son’s birthday plans, while a sub-contractor, Coates Roofing, stepped up as well.
"The section of the roofing had outlasted its time ... it was rusty and there had been ... leaks letting moisture into the lounge area.
"The cost for us to do the section that we'd done would be approximately ... $3000 to $4000 worth and we donated materials and obviously the guys put their hands up to volunteer their labour. It was pretty awesome."
Mr Wishart said the work took about four hours and Mr Hope said the woman was very thankful and emotional when the job was completed.
"We're always open to help out the community as we're a family-based business that is based in Southland and we have been here for 88-odd years."
