This holiday season, community members can make a difference in the lives of several Huntington Woods women with disabilities by participating in the "Raise the Roof: The Medow Home Makeover."

JARC, a Farmington Hills-based nonprofit organization that provides residential services for people with special needs, is raising funds to renovate the Shirley T. Medow Home on Roycourt. The project will transform the home, which was built in 1956 and has been used as a group home since 1982, into a barrier-free, energy-efficient residence where the women can live comfortably as they age.

Donors will be invited to celebrate the project and the end of Hanukkah from 6-8 p.m. Dec. 9 during a Graffiti Party in which they'll get to leave messages on the Medow home's walls.   

"The kitchen is going to be one big palette and people can graffiti and leave their mark," JARC Chief Executive Officer Rick Loewenstein said. "If you get something in by the 9th, that's your ticket to the Graffiti Party."

Contributions still will be accepted after Dec. 9, he said, adding the nonprofit has nearly $60,000 toward its $100,000 goal for the project. Photos will be taken after the party and the walls will be torn down as the renovation gets under way.

The planned upgrades include:

• a new geothermal heating and cooling system;
• a new barrier-free kitchen;
• new high-efficiency appliances and lighting;
• a new three-season porch;
• roof and driveway repairs;
• new native landscaping; and
• new eco-friendly paint.

"We want to allow the ladies to age in place and to be good stewards of the environment and reduce our operating costs and carbon footprint," Loewenstein said. "By saving dollars in energy costs, we can put that money toward our programming."

The project's No. 1 priority is to transform the home into a barrier-free living space, said Loewenstein and John McCaffrey, director of Community Supports/Frankel Division for JARC.

"It can be as simple as the heights of the stove and the oven; roll-in showers as opposed to step-in showers; the height of the light switches; organization of closets," said McCaffrey, explaining what kinds of changes need to be made to create a barrier-free environment. "Your best bet would be to sit in a chair for one day and roll around your house and see what you can't do."

Although not all of the Medow home residents use wheelchairs, "the idea is to get ahead of the curve," McCaffrey said. "We don't want to wait for a time of need."

The women require varying levels of assistance and their home is staffed around the clock for help with cleaning, meal preparation and medication, McCaffrey said.

"They have the same cares as you and I do," Loewenstein said. "They care about their family; they want to be part of the community; they want to work."

The six women, who are age 18 and older, already have started packing and will stay at a vacant JARC home in Farmington Hills during the renovation.  "We're looking at it as a mini-vacation and then they get to come back to their new digs," JARC program coordinator Jayne Wilkinson said.

Another party is scheduled for June to show off the renovations and coincide with a landscaping effort, McCaffrey said.

"That's the only home we have in Huntington Woods," he said, "and we have a very supportive community."

If you would like to contribute, visit www.crowdrise.com/jarc1 or www.jarc.org (select fund name "Raise the Roof - The Medow Home Makeover") or contact Laura by phone (248-538-6610, Ext. 308) or e-mail lauraostreicher@jarc.org.