Starting this week, Mike Conley will take a few hours each week form his job as development manager of Winchester Homes in Greenbelt to help repair a house in University Park where four mentally challenged men live.
Conley is part of the Home Builders Care Foundation, which selects a housing unit in one of five counties in Maryland each year for major repairs.
This year’s lucky winner is an 80-year-old-house where the four men and their counselor live, It is one of 34 group homes managed by the ARC of Prince George’s County, which provides employment, medical and day care services for people with mental retardation.
“It’s somewhat upsetting when you think of the people…living in the condition that they are living in,“ Conley said. “But it’s gratifying to have the opportunity to give back to the community.”
The five-bedroom house, located near the intersection of Route 410 and Route 1, has operated as a group home for the ARC for 28 years without repairs. Ceilings have started to fall down, water is leaking from the plumbing and window sills are rotting. Conley and other managers from Craftstar Homes, Washington Homes and Pulte Homes will lead a team of subcontractors of about 20 people to complete the job by Thanksgiving.
The revamp will cost about $100,000. The foundation, which is made up of homebuilders and other companies that work with them, is paying for three-quarters of that with cash, materials and labor. The ARC is paying for the rest in cash.
“We’re happy and just very pleased with what they’re doing for us.” said Mac Ramsey, executive director of the ARC of Prince George’s County. “This really shows how businesses can make a difference.”
The foundation, based in Silver Spring, serves Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince George’s and St. Mary’s counties in Maryland.
Last year, the foundation built a 100-bed shelter for the homeless in Rockville. Its most recent work in Prince George’s was the repair of an Oxen Hill home for the county’s Christmas in April program, which rebuilds houses for low-income homeowners, primarily the elderly and disabled.
A 501 (c) (3) Non-Profit Community Outreach
Program affiliated with the Maryland
National-Capital Building Industry Association.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit
of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity
throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative
advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers
to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex,
handicap, familial status, or national origin.
