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Community: Giving Back Can Benefit All

By Danielle Hoguet,  Photos by Lora Carr

The generosity of the human spirit is an amazing thing. Viewers of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are weekly witnesses to the strength a community can pull together when it comes to helping someone in need. But are you aware that this grassroots phenomenon occurs right here in our area? An organization called Helping Hands recently fixed up the house of a little girl named Jaycee, whose medical condition now requires a bowel transplant. This event may not have been broadcast on national television, but it is not left unnoticed. Volunteers came from all around to lend a hand in brightening the home and spirit of a family who needed it.

Having just started in 2008, Helping Hands has made quite an impact. They have now completed two projects and will start raising money for their next in the coming months. Basically, the Helping Hands crew provides assistance to less fortunate families in the community. It is more of a connection of need versus a selection of application. In other words, the families they help have not applied or asked for the help. Helping Hands finds them through the hearts of their community. They raise money through fundraisers, various sales and even private donations, and then work their magic.

This year’s Helping Hands project was a year long effort. Throughout the year, the volunteers held local bake sales, yard sales, clothing drives, toy drives and book drives to raise the money. Generous friends of friends donated to the cause as well. Thanks to them, Jaycee and her mom and sister spent a wonderful day out and about while their home was renovated. Maria Pacifico donated a hair cut and style and a makeover for Jaycee’s mom at Salon M Design. Roree Iris-Williams gave the family free admission to the Garden State Discovery Museum and Peggy Grossmick gave them a meal at the Silver Diner in Cherry Hill. The Helping Hands met with the family and toured the house to get ideas and make a plan. “Captains” were assigned to each room to oversee the process, and “shoppers” were picked to be on call to run to Home Depot or anywhere else as needed. Photographer Lora Carr even held a photo shoot for Jaycee and her older sister, Devon, a few days before the makeover.

Moms, dads and their kids all came together on Sunday, June 14 to make this home makeover happen. From eight o’clock in the morning to midnight that night, these dedicated volunteers transformed the home of this deserving family. They fixed holes in the floors and walls, completely gutted one bathroom and dressed up the bedrooms with Ikea dressers and Pottery Barn linens. They built a deck around the family’s above-ground pool so Jaycee can enjoy her summer, near the pool, even though she cannot go in the water. She and Devon now have two fantastic playrooms and their mother has a relaxing spa-like bedroom oasis. For the finishing touch, Lora Carr hung photos from the shoot all around the house.

If you ask any of the volunteers what the best part of the whole experience was, they would most likely say the reaction of the mother and her two beautiful daughters when they came back to see their “new” home. Jaycee’s mother was in tears while her two girls were delighted to see each room and touch each new thing. “It was beyond anything you ever imagined,” said Jaycee’s mom. She was amazed. “My thanks are immeasurable. I can’t even say thank you- that wouldn’t even cut it.” They were so grateful to see all that their community did for them, but the people in the community were the ones who received a gift. This family’s needs brought friends, families and even strangers together in a rare and special way. They were able to put a whole day aside and forget all of their own problems to help someone who truly needed it. When people see the unfortunate situations of others, they realize that they have so much and should be grateful for it.

The definition of community is “a group of people living in the same locality and under the same government,” but it is people like these volunteers that prove community is so much more. These volunteers gave up their entire day to help a family they may not have even known, all for a good cause. Not only does it feel good to help, but it sends a positive message to children about working with others for a common cause. By involving children in something so great, they will learn that they can make a difference. Knowing they changed someone’s life, will hopefully encourage kids to continue to contribute to the community in the future.

Danielle Hoguet is a local freelance writer. If you would like to contact Helping Hands, e-mail Lea Jacovini at jacovini@msn.com or Lisa Hurly at hurly@ameetingplace.com.