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WINDHAM, Maine — Army veteran Michael Reilly, 77, suffered a spinal cord injury and infection last November that left him paralyzed and caused many complications, leading to an extended hospital stay. His home already was in need of some minor repairs, but as time went on with Michael in the hospital, the home further deteriorated. His daughter Miriam was bogged down with trying to navigate health insurance issues and medical treatments while also trying to manage repairs at her father’s home.“

He’s excited,” Miriam said of her father’s being able to go home. “It’s just a wonderful program, and they were so easy to work with. And everyone was so pleasant that I met them, including all the volunteers.”

Miriam’s goal was simply to make the home safe for her father and his wheelchair. The back deck was rotting and would not be able to support a ramp, so she had it taken out. When Jim McBride and Betti Lu Lewis of the Sebago Lakes Region FCH first visited the home, Jim asked about plans for the back of the home.

She admits that she was overwhelmed — until the Sebago Lakes Region Fuller Center for Housing and its partners and volunteers stepped in. Thanks to their hard work and 255 volunteer hours over 10 weeks, Michael will be going home.

“He said he’d really like to build a deck so that my dad could enjoy some fresh air and sun,” Miriam said. “He took care of building the deck, the sliding glass door and the ramp, and that was really a huge load off my shoulders. That helped me focus on other things.

“I probably wouldn’t have had a deck built,” she added. “I probably wouldn’t have had the sliding glass door replaced because it all would have been way too much for me to do because I was already overwhelmed as it was.”

The home repairs — which also included exterior siding repairs, interior flooring and more — were made through The Fuller Center’s Greater Blessing Program, in which existing homeowners can partner to make repairs to keep them safely in the houses they love. There is no legal obligation to repay the costs of the repairs, but homeowners are encouraged to pay it forward, repaying costs as they are able so that others in their community may get the same kind of hand-up from their local Fuller Center covenant partner.

McBride expressed special thanks to lead builder Butch Freeman, who put more than 70 hours into the job, as well as Ron Eby, Michael’s neighbor from across the street who provided several meals, loaned out some of his tools and continuously boosted volunteers’ spirits with words of encouragement.