Operation Home Rescue Completes Ninth Project Home

TMG Cares was honored to visit and repair the home of Loren Kurtz, a caring and passionate Vietnam veteran with a long history of giving back to his community. Loren grew up in a military family and decided to enlist to serve his country in the Vietnam Era instead of letting the draft catch up with him. When he was just 19, he joined the National Guard and trained at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to become an x-ray technician. As a part of the Army Medical Service, he was stationed in Washington State at Madigan Army Medical Center, focusing on the helicopter pad & the emergency mass unit at the hospital.

Loren lives at the project home in Vancouver, WA. with his wife Linnea. Both Loren & Linnea have established a life of giving back to those in need in their communities. Once Loren left the service, he received his master’s in social work and has assisted thousands of people through drug & alcohol treatment throughout his career. The couple has taken multiple foster children into their home and have been very involved in assisting community foster children with the supplies they needed to be successful in school. Now that they are retired, Loren and Linnea have focused on taking in dogs and cats with special needs from shelters, as well as caring for parrots through the Parrots for Patriots program.

Project Day Recap

This house had a wintery start, being originally scheduled for Thursday, February 23^rd, which happened to be the day that Vancouver, WA received record snowfall! Alas, the project was postponed to a more typical rainy day on Thursday, March 3^rd. A smaller than originally planned crew of 7 TMG Maintenance staff managed the repairs and volunteer portion of the projects.

Here’s a snapshot at the myriad of repairs that were made in one single day:

Interior Tasks:

• Replaced kitchen sink faucet, which restored hot water access.
• Replaced the deteriorated cabinet shelf under the kitchen sink.
• Replaced master bath sink & faucet, which restored water access.
• Replaced the deteriorated cabinet shelf under the bathroom sink.
• Bathtub nozzle rebuild & drain repair in guest bathroom, which restored hot water pressure to the shower & allowed for proper drainage.
• Toilet tank rebuild, which restored use of toilet in the guest bathroom, and eliminated constantly running water.
• Repaired grapefruit-sized hole in entry way hall.
• Living room railing secured so is no longer loose.
• Doorframe was reattached to wall to allow for safe passage.

Exterior Tasks:

• Replace 3 rotted deck boards on the backyard deck & secured railing.
• Built an ADA access ramp with railing over 3 stairs to the deck.
• Replaced 1 section of missing & rotted fence boards.
• Repaired back gate latch so it is now finctional.
• Installed lightbulb on pole light in back yard & confirmed sensor functions.
• Landscaping in front and backyard, trimming of bushes and tearing out a large dead bush.
• Collected yard debris and hauled away almost a whole trailer’s worth of debris.

Community Partners:

1. H&B Electric joined us and took care of electrical repairs:

• Repaired and replaced garage & guest bedroom outlet.
• Repaired kitchen light.

2. Azael Construction was not able to join us but was able to conduct repairs with his team later on:

• Completed a huge repair on the south side of the house replacing rotted siding, including the chimney enclosure.
• Replaced missing siding surrounding outdoor water spigot.
• Chainsawed a tree stump to the ground.
• Textured and primed repaoired drywall section in entry way.
• Bathtub touchup spray to prevent further deterioration.

3. Lowe’s donated supplies to help offset the cost of this project home:

• $1,437.28 worth of supplies were donated to the project home which included:
  • Pretreated siding for south side of home.
  • Lumber for fence, deck, and new ADA access ramp.
  • Plumbing supplies to repair toilet.

Because of their giving nature, it was hard for Loren and Linnea to accept help in the beginning. Now that the repairs have been done, this is what they have to say:

"Just wanted to express to you our amazement and appreciation of all that your team did yesterday. We can safely say that we have never had a better experience. We are sitting in the kitchen this morning, marveling at all the changes that have taken place. It feels like our house has been brought back to life and that we're now again part of the 21st-century - having toilets that flush, electric lights that work and hot water in the kitchen. The fence repair, landscape improvements, ramp, etc. are incredible! You and the staff were all so kind and giving of your time and general good nature."

TMG Cares is proud and honored to make such a difference in the home of one of our community's families dedicated to serving others in so many ways - that's what Operation Home Rescue is all about!