Charlottesville woman receives renovations thanks to volunteers

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - A Charlottesville woman is getting some much-needed repairs thanks to the generosity of a partnership resuming for the first time in months.

Albemarle Housing Improvement Program (AHIP) and Tiger Fuel are starting their partnership volunteer projects again, beginning with restoring a shed for Della Dooms.

“I don’t know what else to say. I’m just at a lost for words,” Dooms said.

Dooms says she has lived in her Charlottesville home for 25 years, but it was only recently that she noticed several issues that could no longer be ignored.

“My wall cracked, so I had to get help to get this house back in order. The floors right now are uneven as I speak,” she said.

It’s not just her home, there is a shed in her backyard that is getting renovating, too.

“That thing was tore all up to pieces,” Dooms said.

She decided to reach out to a nonprofit she’d had some history with.

“I’ve used AHIP before, I knew these were my people. They would have came back and did anything they could for me, they’re good people,” Dooms said.

AHIP and Southern Development Homes are working together to make the home improvements.

“We want families and people to be safe in their homes, and if a homeowner reaches out to us and they’ve got a situation that’s unsafe, or there’s dangerous deficiency in the house, we can’t just say no, we’re going to find a way to make the project happen,” AHIP Director of Programs Cory Demchak said.

The shed renovation is part of a partnership between the nonprofit and Tiger Fuel.

“We’ve donated $10,000 in labor and equipment in order to support some critical repair projects, and we love AHIP’s mission and feel it’s really important for our neighbors to be safe and comfortable in their homes,” Tiger Fuel Marketing Director Sarah Whitney said.

Dooms has big plans for when the restoration completes: “I’m going to put cabinets, I’m going to separate stuff, put everything together, make it look like a little livable place, put my tools in, make it livable for me and my two little grandsons so that we can have a spot to share while they’re here, when they come,” Dooms said.

If you want to help, every order of Tiger Fuel’s AHIP Special sandwich sends $1 to projects like this.

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