An OAP who was living in a cold and damp house has been left ''emotional'' after a group of kind-hearted strangers transformed her home for free in time for Christmas. Irene, who suffers from a range of health conditions, had been living without any heating or hot water and was left close to tears after she received help from volunteers and generous donations from the public to fix up her home.
The elderly woman, from Knowsley, had been getting by with a small electric heater to try to keep her house warm after her gas supply had been switched off, leaving her without central heating or hot water. Irene also had holes in her walls and her front and back doors were hanging off the edges, making the property even colder, Manchester Evening News reports.
A concerned neighbour reported Irene's living conditions at her Merseyside home and the issue was brought to the attention of James Anderson who runs the Depher Community Interest Company. After fearing that the OAP may not live through another winter if her home was not improved, he put out a request for donations on social media to help renovate her home.
He was met with floods of offers from sympathetic individuals and companies who all wanted to put some money towards Irene's home improvements. Depher, which is a plumbing and heating business that works to help people living in run down conditions and cannot afford to maintain properties, also raised thousands of pounds for Irene's home after her story was published in the media.
This weekend, Depher and a squad of volunteers got to work on the house to make it safe and warm in time for the festive period. There is still work to be done with the new front and back doors to be installed but the group have already made a vast improvement to Irene's home.
Speaking about Irene's response, James said: "She did get a bit emotional, she was nearly crying. She said 'is this all for me? It feels like someone actually loves me.'"
Going into detail about the work done so far, James said: "It was a long and tiring weekend but Irene is really chuffed with what we have done so far. She has new carpets fitted, a new electric fire installed and she finally has a working boiler, which means she has proper heating and hot water.
"We also installed a new hob to cook on, made sure her bathroom is working properly with new taps and completed many repairs around the house. Once the the front door and back door are finished, we will put a new floor in the bathroom."
On top of Irene's home transformation, James and his team have also settled an existing debt to make sure the gas supply would be restarted and even bought her a Christmas tree for her front room. James added: "Irene has had a tough time and we want to make sure she has a Christmas to remember.
"We are going to get a big Christmas shop in for her too."
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