House project from Rebuilding Together Minnesota prompts a marriage proposal

Their yard had always been a showpiece. “I had four waterfalls out there at one time,” said Terry Sokol, as he described the landscaping of his home in Maplewood that he shares with Ray Garcia.  The two met in Minneapolis in 1970, after Sokol came home from serving in Vietnam for 3 years.

“I got to sit down with Terry and look at a whole photo album of pictures of their yard and all the different flower arrangements and statues that they would change up every year,” said Fraser Breon, Communications and Community Engagement Associate for Rebuilding Together Minnesota.

The fact that health conditions are preventing Sokol and Garcia from getting outside together to pursue their passion for landscaping is partly why Rebuilding Together Minnesota chose the couple’s home for their latest renovation.

“The simple things we take for granted mean a lot to our clients,” said Tom Pfannenstiel

Program Director at Rebuilding Together Minnesota. The non-profit provides free home repairs and safety modifications to low-income homeowners, particularly seniors, veterans, families with children, and people with disabilities. Rebuilding Together Minnesota will complete 170 projects this year alone. Since 1997, the organization has worked to ensure safe, independent living by repairing roofs, fixing plumbing, and installing accessibility features like ramps, exactly what Sokol and Garcia desperately needed. The pair applied for the safety improvement and were approved.

Because of his parkinson’s diagnosis late last year, Garcia is in a wheelchair, and Sokol uses a walker. Both circumstances made the steep concrete steps in front of their home not only unsafe, but also impassable for Garcia. “He’s been looking forward to this,” Sokol explained. He said Garcia had not been outside of their home in two months.

Rebuilding Together Minnesota partnered with Home Depot in Woodbury on the project, which went way beyond a wheelchair accessible ramp and landscaping to include a surprise for the homeowners. “They’re also getting a new patio set, a charcoal grill, and lights,” said Pfannenstiel.

Sokol and Garcia applied for the project on the Rebuilding Together Minnesota website, where the next application process opens on Oct. 1. Successful candidates are homeowners who meet income requirements.

All of our clients are low-income, as categorized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),” Fraser explained. “That means they make less than 50% of the area median income for family size per county. Our clients don’t have a plethora of support available to them.”

News that they were getting a new ramp, coupled with Garcia getting out of the hospital and assisted living, prompted the couple to make a bold move after being together 55 years. “We recently got married,” Sokol said. “It’s a new start for both of us.”

The seemingly small projects from Rebuilding Together Minnesota are creating big impact for everyone involved.

“The transformation in homeowners is unbelievable,” Pfannenstiel explained. “Seeing the life changes that we do, that’s why I come to work every day,”

Learn more about Rebuilding Together Minnesota, including how to apply for a project and how to donate at: https://rtmn.org/.