Local veteran receives home repairs via Home Depot grant

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

Maureen Sapp, a disabled veteran, once described her home as “a real money pit of a house” and that it seemed like everything was against her for quite a while, when a severe hailstorm first damaged the roof, followed by the discovery of water damage not covered by insurance. 
“When the roofers took everything apart to replace it there was quite a bit of water damage that the insurance company did not cover, so I had to get a loan to fix all the water damage,” Sapp said. “Since they said that it looked like the damage was all the way across the front I, stupidly, told the guys to take off the front of the house.”
When they did rip the front the house, Sapp said it was discovered that the water damage was much more severe than they originally thought, coming all the way down to about five feet off the ground. 
But that’s not all. After they removed the three-foot-tall stone façade, there was severe termite damage from the ground up to about two feet and in some places four feet off the ground.
“I had several studs that were literally eaten all the way through and weren’t even touching anymore. They literally told me that, probably, the only reason that my house was still standing was because my A-frame house was built with steel beams from side to side as support,” Sapp said. 
By this time, she said she was already at a point of no return--the front of her house was down to studs. 
“I quickly maxed out a couple credit cards buying supplies and new windows, trying to fix my house.”
Then, she described herself as being despaired and overwhelmed by it all. When she showed an employee of a local veterans’ support group, Bring Everyone in the Zone (BEITZ), pictures of the damage, it was the beginning of a turnaround. 
BEITZ helped Sapp with a grant from Home Depot, which Sapp received in the amount of $5,000. By the time Sapp received notice of the award, the front of the house had ben repaired but there was still water damage remaining at the right outer wall. 
Sapp admits she struggled both with asking for help and accepting the grant.
“I thought about not using the grant since the original purpose of the grant was for an area of the home that had already been repaired. As I wrestled with my own difficulty asking for assistance, the ongoing repairs continued to take a toll on me, both financially and emotionally,” she said. The feeling of discouragement had also been fueled by the discovery of mold in the drywall – not black mold, but it meant that more drywall needed to be replaced inside.  
“We ended up taking the entire living and dining room down to the studs, to check for more damage, and we found it,” Sapp said. 
Sapp ended up using the $5,000 Home Depot grant after all, which paid for enough supplies to have some of her “battle buddies” rebuild and improve the house. 
“It is now livable, and I am very thankful to Home Depot and Bring Everyone in the Zone for the grant, because without it I would not have been able to repair my home. 
“Having battle buddies is a great thing, as we veterans have learned to stick together in a war zone, but having an organizations like BEITZ and Home Depot that are willing to provide resources to improve or sustain our quality of life is paramount.” 
Maureen Jouett, director of BEITZ, said the nonprofit received a disabled veteran grant from Home Depot and Sapp isn’t the first local veteran aided by the funds. 
“We’re especially appreciative of our local Home Depot here in Killeen, that’s the second time we’ve helped a disabled service member because of them,” said Jouett. “They supplied the gift cards and other veterans helped provide the work.”