MANSFIELD — Harmony House is almost ready to house a single-parent family at 136 West Dickson.
The emergency shelter service for men, women and children since 1990 was able to open Ed’s Place, an emergency home for those in need after the United Way in Mansfield held its annual Day of Caring.
Ed’s Place is named after former Mansfield mayor Ed Meehan who spent time volunteering with Harmony House. Meehan passed away in December 2015.
“Our project was to come here and paint the bottom of the house,” said Ted Wendling, vice president of Rinehart Walters-Danner Insurance Agency. “We’re painting the bottom of the house, and Vicki (Kane, chief executive officer of Harmony House) asked if I knew any builders.”
Moonlighting as the treasurer of the Building Industry Agency, Wendling asked Kane, “What do you have going on?”
Wendling said he thought the project of renovating the house and creating a location for small single-parent families would be a great project for BIA to handle.
The inside of the house was a mess but with the shell of the building still intact, the BIA renovation wound up a success.
With limited money, but using state grants and donations to remodel the one bedroom, one bathroom home, the residence just needs the state to audit the home before Harmony House can let someone stay for a maximum of 60 days, Kane said.
Meeting each Friday from late October to March, the volunteer effort finished the 560-square-foot home.
“It’s small,” Kane said. “But it’s a lot better than living in a car.”
All appliances are new in the home, said Sonny Frazier, general contractor for Ed’s Place. The kitchen includes a four-coil electric stove and refrigerator and the home is air conditioned and heated. The home on the top floor sits above the home’s former garage which will now be used as a storage space for Harmony House.
“Between most of the members of our organization, we got it done,” Wendling said. “From electrical to heating and cooling, we put it together and got it done for them. The front porch was ready fall down, asbestos it’s all been replaced. It’s just worked perfectly for the community — one non-profit helping another — it’s awesome.”
