USG teamed up with Designing Spaces and Rebuilding Together to help give a Fort Lauderdale, FL grandmother a safe and happy home for her four grandchildren. The episode will air on Lifetime April 4 at 7:30 a.m. ET. |
Designing Spaces teamed up with Rebuilding Together, an organization that provides critical repairs to low-income homes, and identified the need to help Joy Stewart and her family. Stewart received the home makeover just in time for Valentine’s Day.
"I'm somewhere between Cloud Nine and infinity," said Stewart upon seeing her renovated home for the first time. "The kids are happy, so that makes me really happy."
After spending most of the past decade trying to keep her four grandchildren out of foster care, Stewart found herself jobless and homeless, trying to make ends meet on $360 per month. Without a place to call home, the family lived in a car, a truck and an abandoned house, but the lack of resources didn’t stop her grandchildren from making it to school every day. A Broward County Sheriff who knew one of the children from North Lauderdale Elementary learned about the family’s dire situation last December and knew something had to be done to help.
Local merchants teamed up to donate food, toys, appliances and furniture and an acquaintance of Stewart’s signed over a foreclosed house that would be renovated by Rebuilding Together and the Designing Spaces television show. The mortgage lender forgave the debt so Stewart would not have to worry about making monthly payments.
"This is truly an amazing story of perseverance, determination and display of love between a grandmother and her grandchildren," said Linda McGovern, Vice President of Marketing, USG. "Her story inspires people to never give up hope and USG wanted to find a way to contribute to that."
USG building materials provided to the home include Sheetrock® Brand UltraLight Panels, Durock® cement board Next Gen, Sheetrock Brand UltraLightweight All Purpose Joint Compound, Sheetrock Brand Mold Tough® Gypsum Panels and Sheetrock Brand Lightweight All Purpose Joint Compound with Dust Control.
For more information about USG, call 800-USG-4YOU or visit usg.com. To learn more about Designing Spaces visit http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/designing-spaces or Rebuilding Together visit http://rebuildingtogether.org/.