PORTLAND, Texas — Busy hands were put to work over at the First United Methodist Church in Portland. Church members put their best foot forward in making a dream come true for a family and their children by building them a home.
The “Build-a-Home” mission project will once again help a family place a roof over their heads. The ministry began building homes back in 2009, and this year, the Lopez family based in the Rio Grande Valley will receive the 12th home by the program.
“We have been down there, we have made this decision on this family, they’re excited to receive this home and we are excited to help them,” said lead pastor of the FUMC Portland Larry McRorey.
The family has six children. Workers say they are working hard with pre-builds of floor boxes and walls.
“These folks who we are building for this year, they bathe out of a bucket. Eight people in a 20 ft trailer and they sleep on the floor wrapped in blankets. This is going to be life-changing for them,” said FUMC chair missions committee Gail McCleese.
Members of First United Methodist Church say creating this home takes a lot of team effort from young to old.
“It gives the younger children the opportunities to learn from the older folks, learn some skill that they might not learn otherwise,” said McCleese.
The crew will head to the Valley on May 30 and put the home together for that whole week. Throughout the process, the pandemic also brought obstacles.
“But because of the pandemic and so many things being shut down and the price increase of lumber it’s made it difficult for us to meet our financial challenges,” said McCleese.
The Lopez family will receive their new home for free, and church leaders say everyone's hard work makes all the difference.
“Every year we have some very consistent folks, we have new folks that will join us to be apart of that community as well,” said McRorey.
And to see how you can donate and help, the church has set up a gofundme account, you can see recent activity here.
