Volunteers Needed for Annual Home Repair Drive in Dexter

The Dexter chapter of Christmas in Action is looking for volunteers for its annual one-day home repair service on April 28.

Christmas in Action is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to reach out to members of the community to help with needed home repairs and rehabilitation projects. The work can range from replacing a roof, painting a house, building a wheelchair ramp, staining a deck to cleaning up a yard and planting flowers.

"We need volunteers of all different backgrounds and skill sets," committee member Russ Mynning said. "We don't know how many houses we'll be working on yet; sometimes it can be as many as 25, other years we only have seven or eight."

Christmas in Action, formally known as Christmas in April, started in Dexter in 1991, and has helped more than 70 homeowners.

"We mostly receive requests for work from elderly homeowners living on Social Security, but the requests have been down in recent years," Mynning said. "A lot of people are too proud and don't want to ask for help, so we have to go to local churches and nonprofits agencies for referrals."

Similiarly, the number of volunteers has also been decreasing every year.

"Ten years ago we had 200 volunteers, now we never know if we're going to get anyone to show up," Mynning said.

For those who wish to volunteer, Christmas in Action will have a volunteer meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 24 at the , 8265 Dexter Chelsea Road. Volunteers will be given house assignments and a list of projects the organization hopes to complete.

This year Mynning expects more requests for help due to the that tore through parts of Dexter.

"We already have one request for some basic repairs on a home hit by the tornado. Most homeowners' insurance cover repairs, but in this instance, insurance won't pay, so we're stepping up to help," Mynning said.

Christmas in Action will take place beginning at 8 a.m. April 28. For more information, call Mynning at 734-622-7533.