Orginally posted: December 21, 2021
This year, Lowe’s awarded Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C. (DC Habitat) $60,000 in support of our aging in place home repair efforts. The funding has been used to provide 61 home repairs and modifications to low-income DC seniors and adults with disabilities since February.
Since 2014, Lowe’s has contributed over $9 million to support Habitat for Humanity’s Neighborhood Revitalization and Aging in Place programs. In FY2021, the amount Lowe’s invested is $650,000.
From February through December 2021, Lowe’s has helped make neighborhoods across the U.S. healthier and safer places to live by donating grants to 13 local Habitat organizations. DC Habitat was one such local affiliate, and received $60,000 from Lowe’s towards our home repair program providing aging in place support.
DC Habitat partners with the DC Department on Aging and Community Living and nonprofit HomeCare Partners through the Safe at Home program. Through Safe at Home, DC Habitat provides low-income seniors and adults with disabilities with no-cost repairs and accessibility modifications to remove threats to health and safety, ensuring families can stay in their homes and seniors can safely age in place.
Lowe’s shares Habitat’s belief that having a safe, decent home helps bring strength and stability to families and communities. With Lowe’s commitment, DC Habitat has helped seniors like Sylvia remain safely in homes that are already affordable to them, and remain in their communities where they’ve built their lives.
Sylvia has lived in DC nearly all her life. She is an accomplished speech and language pathologist, having founded the speech and language department at Pilgrim Psychiatric Hospital in Long Island, New York before returning to the District to serve in the DC Public School system for the majority of her career. When she returned to DC, she purchased her home in the Benning neighborhood and has lived there proudly for 30 years.
Recently, Sylvia began to find it difficult to move around the multi-story home as she got older. DC Habitat was able to assist Sylvia through our home repair program by installing grab bars in her bathroom and railings in her interior stairwells. With the additional support of the handrails and grab bars, Sylvia is now able to confidently and safely move about her home.
“[The repairs] have made life easier,” says Sylvia. “I’m particularly excited about the handrails, because they allow me to walk up and down the steps the normal way.”
Lowe’s grant support this year has enabled DC Habitat to serve 61 households like Sylvia’s since February. DC Habitat deeply appreciates Lowe’s commitment to building safer, healthier communities.