NEIGHBOR IN NEED

ven in the best of times, many of our longtime neighbors struggle with the escalating costs of city taxes, home maintenance, heating and cooling and the ever-rising health care costs associated with growing older. Cost-of-living increases are often impossible to meet for our elderly neighbors on fixed incomes. Faced with hard choices, what trade-offs must our elderly neighbors make in the twilight years of their lives when a sudden home repair is needed? Do they pay their taxes or replace crumbling plumbing? Do they keep paying for their medicine or do they fix that leaky roof that if left unattended will soon destroy the value of their only real asset? In many cases, the cost of upkeep forces an elderly homeowner to sell their home.

Believing that it was just plain wrong that the cost of a home repair would force an elderly homeowner to live in fear, two East Lake neighbors joined forces in 2000 to make a difference in their community. What started out as two individuals volunteering their nights and weekends quickly grew to include hundreds of volunteers, an army of dedicated service contractors, and expanded outreach to five different neighborhoods. Neighbor in Need was formally incorporated in 2007 and makes transformational home repairs for more than 50 households annually.