On Saturday, June 18th, members of the Girl Scout Troop # 9036 and Texas A&M’s MedCamp stopped by the Taylor Family home on Carolina street in the McCullough neighborhood of College Station to provide A Brush With Kindness to the family home. The groups worked on leveling the family’s walkway, providing new landscaping, and applying a fresh coat of paint the family’s two decks, doors and shutters.
Earlier this year, staff of the Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity reached out to residents in the McCullough neighborhood about providing some minor exterior repairs as part of a home preservation project, A Brush With Kindness. The qualifications for families to qualify were similar to the qualifications of Habitat partner families: an ability to repay, the need, and willingness to partner. The Taylor family met those qualifications and was selected as a partner family for this project, allowing Habitat volunteers, Girl Scouts, and the MedCamp students to focus their main efforts on the home.
Mrs. Taylor’s husband passed away a few years ago, so keeping up with the exterior of her house has been difficult since then. With the help of her grandchildren, she has been able to maintain her lawn, but with heavy rains, the area around her stone walk way had eroded, leaving it uneven, the once beautiful landscaping outside the home overgrown by grass without regular maintenance
The Taylor Family Home before A Brush With Kindness
and attention, and the decks were in need of cleaning and new stain. Thanks to a generous grant provided by the Nina Astin Winkler Charitable Trust, Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity was able to help the family with these minor repairs, adding curb appeal and restoring the exterior of the home. As the event wrapped up the College Station Lowe’s stopped by with a surprise for the family: a new outdoor table with umbrella for shade, something Mrs. Taylor had mentioned in during the application and intake process.
Following the work on the Taylor Home, volunteers, with the support of Keep Brazos Beautiful, extended the clean-up efforts to the rest of the neighborhood, picking up waste from the streets.
The Taylor Family Home after A Brush With Kindness
Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity has served the Bryan/College Station community for over 25 years, helping 270 families into homes, providing community and hope through shelter, and giving generations of families strength, stability and self-reliance through their partnerships with the local affiliate. There are 38 Habitat homes in the City of College Station, and of those 18 are located in the McCullough neighborhood. Due to the cost of land in College Station, B/CS Habitat has been unable to secure land to build new homes in the town, but through A Brush With Kindness, is able to continue to reach and serve families of the City.
With additional community support and interest, Bryan/College Station Habitat for Humanity hopes to provide similar home preservation services in both Bryan and College Station. To find out more about these services, or to support these efforts, please contact our local affiliate office at 979-823-7200.
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