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Contractors called on to donate time

The Oakland Press/DOUG BAUMAN Pam Clark of Grace Centers of Hope shows one of the private dorms that needs to be refurbished and repaired. Grace Centers still needs a contractor or carpenter to commit to the project.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

By SHAUN BYRON
Of The Oakland Press

PONTIAC It’s an extreme makeover that will benefit women in desperate need of change themselves. Terry Grahl, a mother of four from Taylor and an award-winning decorator, has been helping Grace Centers of Hope in downtown Pontiac for the past two years by making improvements to rooms, securing donated items and creating an atmosphere of a home for those in the shelter.

However, she’s hit a snag in her attempt to fix up nine private dorms for women and children.

Grahl says she has been unable to find a contractor who will donate the time to help with repairs.

“It’s just frustrating,” she said, adding that furniture has already been donated and is sitting in a storage unit.

“And this unit fee we are paying every month is killing us.”

Some of the rooms, she said, only need repair to the molding.

“I don’t see it as being a huge project,” she said. “It’s not knocking down a house and rebuilding it.”

Still, they’ve yet to be able to find someone with enough time to donate for the project.

There is a work day scheduled Friday, and it would be nice if someone could volunteer to come help on that day, she says.

Another incentive is that any builder with a business might be featured in an article of “HomeStyle” magazine. Editors of the national publication agreed to do a story on the work being done, Grahl said.

Grahl has helped transform what was a dingy, sad-looking area into something where clients can feel comfortable and safe, said Pam Clark, director of the women’s program at Grace Centers of Hope.

The center has rooms that went from looking like a prison to having the inside feel and appeal of a cottage.

“We don’t have a lot of money, and we don’t receive government funds because we are faith-based,” she said. “Remodeling is something that is out of our reach, and she did a wonderful job so far.”

The dorms, Clark said, are intended to give women with children some privacy and a sense of normality in what already is a difficult position.

A clean atmosphere that provides a homey feel can do wonders for someone attempting to get their life back, she added.

“(Grahl) has kept it going,” Clark said, adding they’ve had experiences in the past where people have promised the world but failed to deliver. “She has everything and it doesn’t even have to be a full contractor, or carpenter or electrician. But it does take someone with some expertise.

“We can’t afford to pay, so that leaves us at a whole element of being at someone’s mercy.”

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