Single mom needs help to save family's Highland Park home with roof repair
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (FOX 2) - Holes in ceilings, bedrooms leaking, buckets in the attic - all because the roof on a historic home in Highland Park has to be replaced.
"The home is about 107 years old - and it's been in my family for 50 years," said Eliana Evans.
Evans inherited the home from her parents - she and her 16-year-old daughter have lived there since 2013 - she's tried to make repairs but it's just too much.
"My mom tried to have the roof replaced some years ago - and the contractor took off with the money," she said. "I've had it patched up, but over time it's continuing to deteriorate so it's leaking pretty bad.
"As a single parent, it's really difficult to try to keep up with the major repairs."
But she has to do something - it's a safety issue. The back porch is in danger of caving in - and Eliana says she couldn't find any city or state agencies to help her.
"I hear a lot of people mention that they get turned down for assistance simply because of the zip code," she said. "I think it's a great need for people - not just myself - that live within this city who are facing similar circumstances."
So Eliana contacted Rehab Highland Park, a local non-profit founded by Maurice Turner and his husband Blake Milnes - who moved to Highland Park and renovated an old home there a few years ago.
"When we bought our house here back in 2019 - I just felt a magic here in the city of Highland Park," Turner said.
So they started gathering volunteers and helping others - now they're halfway to their goal of $10,000 to help Eliana get that new roof, helping the community one house at a time.
"We need to continue that - we need to increase that and the city is only a little over 2.9 square miles large - so a little bit does go a long way," Turner said.
"It's definitely going to live - this house will live on - that's for sure," said Michael Locke.
Locke owns Complete Home and Building Maintenance - his workers will be doing the labor with the materials donated by ABC Supply Company - they most recently worked with Rebuilding Highland Park on another roof here back in May.
Now they're back for another.
"It seems like it's an impossible task sometimes with these roofs being very big - very large and needing everything - wood and everything," Locke said. But I've been in the position luckily enough to have the good people around me to make it happen so it's just a matter of doing it."
Rehab Highland Park is hoping to make this happen next week - when it's a little warmer for the roofers - and in time for the holidays for Eliana.
"Growing up here - me and my two brothers - my mom and dad, I have a lot of memories here so i want to continue to create memories here with my daughter," she said. "But we want to live comfortably also - no one wants a roof falling on them."
"It would mean the world to her but also to us to," Turner said, "And hopefully continue to do more work like this throughout the city of Highland Park."
You can donate at rehab Highland Park at these links:
Donate on the GoFundMe site HERE.
