At COVER, a donated dryer is more than just a dryer.

Alice has lived in her home for most of her adult life.* During her working years, she used to pay someone to fix her house. Sometimes she made the repairs herself. When she retired and began living on a fixed income, with a deteriorating health condition, addressing home repair needs became almost impossible.

With declining mobility and balance, she could only leave her house safely if a friend or neighbor helped her down the steps. Her isolation grew. When her dryer broke, laundering her clothes became unmanageable. There was a laundromat in town, but her friends and neighbors couldn’t come every time she needed to dry her clothes.

COVER brought 18 volunteers together to build a ramp for Alice in three days. And COVER delivered a dryer to Alice’s house when one was donated to the COVER Store.

To Alice, a dryer is more than just a dryer. It means she can have clean, dry clothing to wear, no matter the weather or humidity.

Her accessibility ramp is more than just a ramp. It represents a community coming together to take care of her. It has meant a new-found freedom to come and go as she pleases, to re-connect to the outdoors and to see old acquaintances again.

*Alice is a compilation of the many homeowners COVER has assisted over the years.