Repair client Yvonne L. and her family moved to Seattle in 1989. Her favorite aspect of the city is the greenery. It reminds her of Trinidad, where she was born. She has gone back to visit Trinidad three times since she moved to Seattle, and she finds ways to bring the feeling of it to her adopted city.
Hers is an active family that participates in cultural celebrations honoring their Trinidadians roots. Her late husband used to make costumes for the West Indian Day Parade in New York City. Yvonne’s family now makes costumes for the parade in Vancouver, BC, and they’re trying to incorporate the parade into the annual Seafair Weekend Festival.
She has four kids and five grandkids, all still living in this region. She spends a lot of time caring for them. When not working at a local preschool or caring for her family, she focuses on other caregivers: Yvonne volunteers with Women United Seattle, an organization that serves underrepresented BIPOC caregivers 55 years and older in the Skyway and West Hill communities of King County. They host multiple events throughout the year to fundraise for the organization, including an annual fish fry.
Yvonne’s home is a welcoming space for family and friends, but in order to ensure all parts of the house stayed that way, Habitat SKKC’s Repair team added handrails to four sets of exterior stairs in the front and back of the house, replaced several stair and deck treads, and added a gutter to the awning at the back porch.
“It makes it a lot easier for us to get up the steps,” Yvonne explained of the addition of the handrails, our first project at her home.
Recently, Yvonne had a ruptured side sewer and was experiencing overflows and wastewater running into her basement. Habitat SKKC stepped in again and was able to connect with one of our frequent trade partners, Brewer Sewer, to provide a larger scope of sewer repair for the same price as the cheapest estimate she had previously received (and one quarter of the price of the comprehensive bid she had received). Brewer Sewer also added a sewer lining so the repaired sewer in her backyard will last for 30-45 years. Yvonne’s repair was funded via a 0% deed of trust provided by the King County Community Development Block Grant.
With the repairs complete inside and out, Yvonne can worry less about her house and focus more on what is important to her: Caring for her family, celebrating her heritage, and giving back to her community.