Greater Blessings Repair Program Overview

THE GREATER BLESSING PROGRAM is designed to help elderly, handicapped, and veteran low income homeowners do basic health and safety repairs to their homes. In many cases these repairs allow the homeowner to stay in a house that they might otherwise be forced to leave.

We offer people in need a hand up, not a handout, and, in return,

an opportunity to give back to others.

As a proud covenant partner of The Fuller Center for Housing in Americus, Georgia, we share a commitment to a grass-roots, Christ-centered approach to ending poverty housing worldwide.

The Details

The program allows for repairs costing up to $5,000 in materials and professional labor. Most of the work is done by volunteers working with the homeowner, except if there is a specialist that must be hired. Any materials that must be purchased will be obtained at the lowest possible price.

There are no loan documents with this program. Instead, the homeowner is asked to repay the costs, over time and with no interest charged, on terms they can afford. Their payments stay in the community to assist other families and the homeowner gets the Greater Blessing of giving back.

The homeowners become partners with FCHDE by contributing “sweat equity,” when possible, as they work on their home alongside the volunteers or by helping in other ways that suit their ability.

There are no loan documents with this program.

Instead, the homeowner is asked to repay the costs, over time and with no interest charged, on terms they can afford. The Greater Blessing Box is a key component of this program.

Once the costs have been established, the homeowner, working with the Family Partnering Committee, determines an amount that they can pay each month. The total costs are then divided by that amount to determine the number of payments to be made. When the work is completed and dedicated, the family receives a Greater Blessing Box containing envelopes for each monthly payment.

Their payments stay in the community to assist other families with a "hand up" and the homeowner gets the Greater Blessing of giving back...."pay forward".

Submit a Project

Process

REQUIREMENTS: The beneficiary must own and occupy the home, have income at 50% or less of the local median, have no other resources with which to make the repairs, and have sufficient income to repay the construction costs.

ASSESSMENT OF NEED: The Construction Committee will meet with the homeowner to determine the scope of health and safety work required and develop a construction budget. Care should be taken to look for underlying issues that are so often found in older homes and can greatly increase the construction costs. As this program is intended for projects costing no more than $5,000 in materials and professional labor, the committee may determine that the property’s needs exceed that amount and that it won’t qualify.

PAPERWORK: While there is no loan document with a Greater Blessing repair, the homeowner does need to complete an application to determine qualifications and project details. The homeowner does enter into a contractual understanding about the scope, nature, and provisions of the program.

Submit a Project

Why Not Free?

Some ask why these projects aren’t done for free. To this Millard Fuller replied, “My thought is that charity home repair programs are good, but they are deficient theologically because, if you believe that giving is more blessed than receiving, the recipients in such programs are denied the greater blessing. In our work, we do not want to deny that greater blessing and that is why we give the recipients the opportunity to give something back.”