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Help Acts of Kindness charity build wheelchair-friendly home

People can donate via GoFundMe for Extreme Home Makeover, taking place April 31 to May 24
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The Murphy family was chosen for an Acts of Kindness’ Extreme Home Repair which will take place April 30 to May 24. (Special to The Star)

Acts of Kindness’ (AOK) Extreme Home Repair 2021 project is scheduled for April 30 to May 24 after a delay caused by COVID-19.

AOK is an Aldergrove-based charitable organization with 20 years of experience in connecting people to resources and opportunities, with their largest charitable initiative being a total-home-transformation project for families in need.

Anderline Bredy, AOK project manager, said the organization had to take a new approach this year and looking for community support.

“Although the impact of COVID-19 remains largely unknown, our commitment to kindness is not,” she assured. “We invite you to join us in funding this project this year. Much of this work is very specialized and will require us to hire several local contractors to assist us in completing the project this year.”

The Murphys, Ken and Sandra, are this year’s recipient and were nominated by the late Bella Howat, and her sister, Lola, from Aldergrove.

Bella and Lola have known the Murphy family for 53 years, and Bella was the one to surprise the Murphys by announcing the news on Christmas Eve of 2019.

In the summer of 2016, Ken and Sandra lost their son, which took a toll on the family.

READ MORE: Acts of Kindness volunteers fix windows and sidings for family in need

Through all this, Sandra battled health issues as well. Over a year ago, while travelling in the United States, Sandra took sick and ended up in the hospital with only 15 per cent of her heart working.

Doctors did what they could to stabilize her, then airlifted her back to Canada. Because of her declining health, Sandra recently lost both her feet and several of her fingers to amputation.

Her husband Ken left his job to be at her bedside and to take care of her.

After Sandra was discharged, the challenges of cooking and navigating their home became very apparent to them and the family had to quickly learn how to adjust to life and mobility in a wheelchair.

“Your funds will support this complete home transformation for Ken and Sandra, and any additional funds will be applied to relieving the financial constraints of Sandra’s medical expenses,” Bredy explained.

Some of the project details include extending hallways for wheelchair mobility, creating ramp access, removing elevation barriers for cooking, bathing, and everyday living, providing new accessible appliances and hardware with appropriate handles and doorknobs, and replacing flooring for slip resistance mobility.

For more information on Acts of Kindness (AOK) and accessibility awareness, people can visit www.gofundme.com to learn more about the project and donate to the Murphy family.


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