Nonpro t
BY JARRETT WHITENER
Volunteer helping with fence repair at a household.
Mayor Ralph Gutierrez volunteers with the organization.
Volunteers of all ages help the organization achieve their goal of giving back to the community through service.
PHOTOS COURTESY LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE SCHERTZ
Love Where You Live-Schertz works to improve city
Since 2016, Love Where You Live-Schertz has helped homeowners with issues and maintenance around their properties. Director Eric Wilbur said its goal is to help home- owners who are unable to maintain their homes. “We recognized that in our community, we have a lot of folks that ... can’t maintain their homes for whatever reason,” he said. Key players The organization began as a group of churches that work alongside the city of Schertz to identify homes in need of minor maintenance and repair. “The city doesn’t have the resources to help people, and churches alone can’t really do it without some level of support from the city,” Wilbur said. Local businesses and other organizations will sponsor the nonpro t, assisting with providing equipment or other needs. While the organization is mostly focused on Schertz homeowners, they do provide services to nearby areas. Wilbur said around 90% of the work
people each year. Prior to the big events, the organization will go out to neighborhoods in the city to look for homes that might need assistance. When a house is found, organization members distribute an informational yer. Wilbur said this process is how the organization gets most of the people that they assist. Inspec- tors from the city of Schertz will also reach out to the organization with referrals. Moving forward Wilbur said he is having conversations with other municipalities and groups around the area that may be interested in starting a Love Where You Live in their cities to help grow the interest in helping homeowners throughout the area. The focus for now is on neighborhoods and communities where the homes might be older, since those homes are more likely to have mainte- nance issues. “The people that we are helping in these neigh- borhoods are many times overlooked, or they’re isolated or just silent about what they are having to deal with,” he said. “This is our opportunity as a community to come around them and help them.”
The organization helps with minor home projects.
Republic Services helps with cleanup e orts.
is in Schertz. Get involved
Twice a year, the organization hosts large events for volunteers to help homeowners in need, with the most recent event being April 20. Wilbur said the event helped around 40 fami- lies. On average, the organization helps 130-150
www.lwylschertz.com
The organization is driven by volunteer e orts.
18
COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
Powered by FlippingBook