Turning house into home

A house used by Spokane Valley Community Center to help homeless families get back on their feet is getting a makeover.

Members of Spokane East Rotary and women from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have donated hundreds of hours to renovate the interior of the four-bedroom home, which is next door to the community center on East Broadway.

Center Director Mollie Dalpae is hoping to move a mother and her daughters into the home in the next few weeks.

Families who move into the house receive transitional help from social services agencies located at the center.

They also take classes offered by Spokane Neighborhood Action Programs. The SNAP classes help people improve budgeting and other life skills so they can successfully transition into their own homes.

“The first family we put here, the little girl said she’d never been able to have a friend over because she’d lived in a shelter,” Dalpae recalled.

Volunteers installed new carpeting and flooring and painted each room. They also transformed an office into a dining room, added a hearth to the fireplace and plumbed a much-needed shower into the home’s only bathroom.

Jim Van Schoorl said East Rotary paid about $3,000 for supplies. About 10 members worked in shifts over the past two months, performing carpentry and other tasks. A man who recently lived in the home with his own family helped with the project.

Van Schoorl said the home is nearly finished and the volunteers had the expertise to do everything but complicated electrical work.

“There was really nothing that one of us didn’t have the ability to handle,” Van Schoorl said. “It has turned into a lot of work, but it is well worth it.”

Women from six wards belonging to Spokane Valley Stake are adding the finer touches that will make the house a home.

The dining room now boasts decorative paint and a wallpaper border with grape clusters. A new chandelier is being wired into the ceiling.

Eileen Greene said the project combines her interest in decorating with her calling as a humanitarian leader for the church. When she heard about the home, she contacted Relief Society Sisters from six different wards, who stepped forward in groups to adopt one room each.

The home will be outfitted with furniture, handmade quilts, lamps, cookware and everything people need to live comfortably.

Greene, who spent Thursday painting wooden wainscoting in the restroom a pale sage, said their goal was to make struggling families feel welcome.

“There’s service everywhere, but everyone has a talent and this is what I like to do. It’s all helping people.”