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SALT LAKE CITY -- A wheelchair bound women who is usually on the volunteer-end of the Heart 2 Home organization was returned the favor as volunteers helped to make her home more accessible for a wheelchair.
Katie Terry got a surprise when she came home, following a five-day trip.
"Oh my gosh!" Terry said when seeing the house. "It's like a whole new house!"
I might not have my good arm workout anymore not being able to work through the carpet. That's okay; I think I'll find something that will help.
–Katie Terry
The renovation of her house took five days, with 150 volunteers lending a hand. Volunteers lowered cabinets for easier access and installed hardwood floors to help the wheelchair move more freely throughout the house.
"I might not have my good arm workout anymore not being able to work through the carpet," Terry said. "That's okay; I think I'll find something that will help."
Disabled in a car accident nine years ago, Terry leads an active life by raising her two children with disabilities and volunteering for the Heart 2 Home organization. She has been with the organization for the last year.
Related:
2 Heart 2 Home projects have a special connection
Two families along the Wasatch Front are receiving help from the Heart 2 Home Foundation, a group that makes houses accessible for residents with disabilities. There's a remarkable connection between the two homes.Greg Adamson of the Heart 2 Home Foundation said of Terry, "It's always about other people and never about Katie."
And you can see that in the faces of the volunteers who love Terry as much as she loves her new house.
"While we were doing this project, she was up painting the house of another project," Adamson said. "She's always involved and looking to help other people."
"We jumped at the chance to jump in and help her out and try to make her life a little easier," said volunteer Brad Wilson of Wilson Construction.
The House 2 Home volunteers didn't just stop when the work was finished on the inside of the home, they also made the walkway outside more accessible for Terry as well.
E-mail: lprichard@ksl.com
