CINCINNATI, Ohio — Homeowners are getting some much-needed repairs to keep them in their homes for generations to come. It's all part of a volunteer-led project to "Rebuild a Block."

What You Need To Know

  • Rebuilding Together Dayton and Lowe's gave three homes in Dayton a refresh thanks to the Rebuild a Block program

  • Rebuilding Together Dayton focuses on helping homeowners with repairs to continue to live in their homes and pass them along in their family 

  • Shyra Miliner is one of the homeowners receiving upgrades on her home 

Dozens of volunteers in Dayton—thanks to Lowe’s and Rebuilding Together—are giving some homes in certain neighborhoods a facelift. That includes new porches, new roofs, some yard cleanup and even some new doors. 

All hands are on deck to ensure three homes in a Dayton neighborhood can be lived in for many more years. For Shyra Miliner, this street has been her home for her entire life.

“I grew up on the same street," Miliner said.

Shyra Miliner walks down the street she grew up on and where she now owns a home. (Spectrum News 1/Katie Kapusta)

Just houses down from her mother’s and childhood home, she hoped to bring new life to the area.

“Same household that I grew up in," she said. "Literally, I'm like, man, I would love to help build up that neighborhood that we all grew up in.”

But life as a single mom herself made it tough to keep up with house repairs like her front porch, which was nearly falling down before Rebuilding Together Dayton rebuilt it this week.

Miliner looks on at the work being done to her porch. (Spectrum News 1/Katie Kapusta)

“After working hard for years, trying to buy a home in the neighborhood I grew up in, trying to grow the value of the neighborhood and to get this help, it’s unexplainable," she said. "The feeling is really unexplainable. The main word would be thankful and grateful.”

The program known as Rebuild a Block is a partnership with Lowe’s and Rebuilding Together Dayton to make improvements so homeowners can remain in their homes.

Volunteers with Lowe's put on a new screen door for one homeowner. (Spectrum News 1/Katie Kapusta)

“A lot of our homeowners fall under the poverty line," Lauren Sears, an AmeriCorps project coordinator with Rebuilding Together Dayton, said. "So we're able to provide seemingly simple repairs that a lot of them might not be able to provide for themselves just so that they're comfortable in the homes that a lot of them grew up in, raised their kids in.”

Another Lowe's volunteer paints a door for a homeowner. (Spectrum News 1/Katie Kapusta)

Like Miliner and her family.

“My dad grew up in this house," he said of her childhood home.

She says all the work being done is helping her build equity and be a better provider for her family.

“The work that they’re doing now is definitely going probably over double the value of my home," she said.