KCON students assist with home remodel for family struggling with poverty

October 26, 2021 (Volume 45, Number 5)

student kneels to clean a floor to ceiling slider in a house

two students, standing on a chair and short ladder, paint a wall near a ceiling of a home

a student stands outside on a deck to paint the exterior of a sliding door

A nursing student cleans a house that will be a new home for a family. Doors of Hope oversaw the project.

Photo Credit: courtesy photo

Grand Valley nursing students volunteered with a nonprofit organization to help remodel a home for a family struggling with poverty and homelessness.

The students were from Christine Plummer's community health class. Plummer is an affiliate faculty member in the Kirkhof College of Nursing and also director of the health clinic at City on a Hill, which operates Doors of Hope, a community resource ministry.

“The clinic and Doors of Hope work very closely together, and we have a lot of the same types of clients,” Plummer said. “Both organizations work with individuals to help get them out of the cycle of poverty.”

Terri Caldwell, executive director of Doors of Hope, said she was proud of the way nursing students and other community members came together to make this "Hope House" a reality.

“Pretty much every difficult thing that can happen to a family, happened to this family," Caldwell said. "They had been living in their car with their three kids for quite a long time. As we got more involved, we realized that if we are able to provide them with housing, and have a long-term relationship with them, we feel like it could be really life-changing.”

Nursing major Julie Devries volunteered for the project. "I was just really impressed by the way the community embraced this project for the family who is going to be living there," Devries said.

-- Written by Camryn Snider, student writer