'The thing we like to do': CG&S-Design Build to repair Del Valle family's home
Betty Patina-Trujillo, 48, knows that one day because of her multiple sclerosis, she might need a walker or wheelchair. Her son, Margarito, 14, who has scoliosis, just had back surgery and has congenital heart defects.
For both of them, easy access into their mobile home in Del Valle is important. Currently, a double set of staircases is the only route.
Soon the Trujillo family will have a new entrance to their home: a redone porch with a ramp for a wheelchair thanks to CG&S Design-Build.
The local remodeling company read their story in the American-Statesman and has agreed to help the Trujillos with as many of the home repairs as possible, including adding a ramp to the very complicated, space-confined front porch and stairs.
"We always try to find the project where people need the things we know how to do, which is construction," said Dolores Davis, whose parents, Austinites Clarence and Stella Guerrero, founded CG&S Design-Build 66 years ago. "This is the thing we like to do."
The Trujillo family is part of the Statesman's 25th Season for Caring program. Each year, we profile about a dozen local families and ask the community to give. Money and donations above what the featured families need then also help hundreds of other families with rent, utilities, clothing and groceries through local nonprofits. The Trujillos were nominated by Wonders & Worries, which helps children who have a parent with a serious illness.
Since 1999, Season for Caring has donated more than $18.5 million to local nonprofit organizations. This year, Season for Caring has raised more than $152,000 in monetary donations and $56,000 in in-kind goods and services. Through Christmas, monetary donations are being matched up to $500,000 through the Sheth family.
This year has been a hard one for monetary donations because of the higher cost of living and donor fatigue from three years of a pandemic. Donations are running about 25% behind recent years. Many of your neighbors rely on Season for Caring funds and need your help.
Read more: Trujillo family continue to push through medical challenges | Season for Caring 2023
CG&S Design-Build has returned to helping Season for Caring after taking a break during the pandemic. CG&S built an accessible bathroom and first floor for a double amputee in 2018. It remodeled the condominium of a couple with developmental delays in 2017. In 2016, it built an accessible home for a veteran who uses a wheelchair.
After meeting with the Trujillos on Friday, Davis said her team would take all the information, study the narrow parameters of the space between the Trujillos' home and their neighbor's and create a plan for a revised front porch, ramp and staircase as well as the other items on the home repair list.
The home has a leaky shower; a dishwasher, stove and some electrical outlets that aren't working; lights that flicker; siding popping off; and holes in the drywall through which animals enter via the crawl space beneath the home. The refrigerator also needs to be replaced. The list of repairs just grows.
With the Trujillos' house, "we can do all those kinds of things," Davis said of the repair list. Once they get approval from the neighborhood, "we can execute it," Davis said. She will ask their contractor community to help by donating some of the services. "People always want to help," she said.
Betty Patina-Trujillo said she tried to get the ramp done through Medicaid but couldn't work it out. She got one bid for $10,000, money that her family doesn't have. Patina-Trujillo isn't able to work. Her husband, Ruben Trujillo, is legally blind and works as a shipping and receiving clerk for Austin Lighthouse-Travis Association for the Blind, a nonprofit organization helping the blind and visually impaired community.
"I've been trying for three years," Patina-Trujillo said of the ramp project.
The Trujillo family's biggest need right now to get this project going is a home organizer to help clear out and organize their home to enable construction to start. They also need gift cards to H-E-B, Walmart and Target; a laptop for schoolwork; new appliances; and winter coats for the family.
To find out more about the Trujillo family or to give an item on their wish list, contact Wonders & Worries, 512-329-5757, wondersandworries.org.
Other Season for Caring families need home repairs:
∙ The Hernandez family, a mother and daughter who have lived in their home for 52 years, need a plumber to find and fix a leak in the sewer line beneath the house. They also need new bathroom floors, kitchen cabinets, backsplashes, flooring; drywall repairs, damaged siding replaced, interior and exterior painting, and weatherization to reduce utility bills. Interfaith Action of Central Texas, 512-386-9145, interfaithtexas.org
∙ Bonnie Yett, 58, who lost both her husband and her daughter to a stroke this year, needs help with home repairs and yard work. Meals on Wheels Central Texas at 512-476-6325, mealsonwheelscentraltexas.org
About Season for Caring
The Statesman will be sharing the stories of all 12 Season for Caring families throughout the holiday season. Find more stories and information at statesman.com/seasonforcaring. You can donate online or use the coupon on Page 16A. Now through Dec. 25, all monetary donations will be matched up to $500,000 by the Sheth family.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: CG&S Design-Build donates to Season for Caring
