Who We Are

We are members of Champaign Faith United Methodist Church who volunteer to help homeowners in the Champaign-Urbana area by providing assistance with home repairs.

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Program Goal

The goal of Neighbors Helping Neighbors is to help homeowners with a physical and/or financial need in obtaining critical home repairs in order to keep them warmer, safer, and drier. 

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Our Guiding Values

• Dignity and Worth: We believe that each person is created by God and has inherent dignity and worth.

• Safe and Affordable Housing: We believe that all people should be able to live in safe and affordable housing.

• Faith in Action: We believe that God calls us to put our faith in action—to serve others right where they are and to love people just how they are.

• Mutual involvement: We believe that everyone—staff, volunteers, and homeowners—has something to offer.

• Valuing relationships: Our work is not just about the work.  Instead, our hope is to create a relationship with the homeowner.  This too concerns honoring the mutual aspect of this work.  As such, time should be taken by the team to get to know the homeowner and to balance the task at hand with valuing the people involved.

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What We Do

We aim to help homeowners who have a physical and/or financial limitation to obtain needed home repairs that will keep them warmer, safer, and drier.  As such, we provide minor home repair services.  This includes, but is not limited to, repair on things like doors or windows, handrail or grab bar installation, painting, siding, and interior construction that does not require licensing (e.g. plumbing and electrical work).

 

We provide our time and labor free of charge. 

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What We Do Not Do

• We will not do work that necessitates special licensing such as electrical or plumbing work.

• We also do not do roofing work.

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Determining if You Are Eligible

To determine if you are eligible, see below:

• Need

  • Areas of the home are deemed to be in critical need of repair in order to keep the homeowner warmer, safer, or drier. 

  • The homeowner has a physical and/or financial obstacle in completing the work themselves. 

• Residency

  • The home must be located within the C-U area.

  • The home must be owner-occupied and the primary residence of the owner.

• Ability to pay

  • The homeowner must be willing to pay for materials.

  • If unable to pay, the homeowner agrees to pay a portion of the cost of materials.

  • If payment is still an obstacle, we are willing to work with homeowners in order to best meet their needs.

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Homeowner Responsibilities

We ask homeowners to cover the cost of any purchased materials or parts that may be required to complete the job.  If this is an obstacle, we will try our best to work with homeowners to find solutions that best meet their needs.  Regardless, we provide our time and labor free of charge. 

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Steps in the Process

1. If you or someone you know has a need of this sort, contact Cory (217-359-3631 or cory@champaignfaith.org) to determine if it is within our scope and ability.

2. Then, our volunteers will visit with homeowner to assess the needed repairs.  We will:

   • Understand the scope of work 

   • Determine if our team has the skills and resources necessary to perform the repairs

   • Identify materials or parts that may be required and provide homeowner with an estimate of the cost of those items

3. If project is within our scope and the homeowner wants to move forward, we will schedule a date and time for our team to complete repairs.