HomeAid Northern Virginia and Builder Captain M/I Homes have completed the renovation of three bathrooms at Alternative House’s Emergency Shelter for Teenagers. HomeAid’s first project in Northern Virginia was a major renovation of the shelter in 2001, and after 13 years of hard, round-the-clock use by up to eight teenagers at a time, all three bathrooms needed major upgrades.

Included in the $11,500 project were all-new vanities, fixtures, drywall, lighting, glass shower doors, paint, flooring, and tiling 3.5 feet up the walls to ease cleaning and maintenance. Two new toilets were also installed.

“Projects like these are truly a godsend,” said Judith Dittman, executive director of Alternative House. “It’s important that our young people have updated, beautiful bathrooms that are clean and shiny, but even more importantly, it means that we don’t have to spend our funding on a renovation—we can put those precious funds toward programs and services for our residents. The wear and tear on our facility is significant, and while we can get a lot of basic maintenance and repairs taken care of ourselves, we just can’t budget for major projects like these. HomeAid has always been there … they’ve always stepped forward to help, and they’re just a wonderful organization that is so important to all of the nonprofits in Northern Virginia.”

M/I Homes Area President Jerry Berman, who also serves on HomeAid’s board of directors and will serve as NVBIA’s president in 2015, said that his company is happy to join in the effort, having completed multiple projects over the years.

“The building industry works hard all year, every year, building homes for people who have lots of choices and who can pretty much take care of themselves,” he said. “What we don’t have as easily is the opportunity to help those who don’t have as much. HomeAid gives us that chance. They’re an organization that makes it easy for us to do what we do well, but for people who need it far more than those we normally work with.”

“Once you’ve worked with HomeAid, and you see how grateful people are to receive what you’re uniquely able to give them, you’ll keep doing it year after year,” Berman added. “The rewards are great, and I don’t mean monetarily. It’s a reward for the soul and the spirit, and everyone who works on a project learns that. It gets to the point that it almost feels a little selfish … you get such a feeling from these projects that you want to do it again and again. That’s why M/I Homes keeps coming back for more.”