WHITE LAKE, Mich. (MyFox Detroit) -
A local, military family could hardly make ends meet, let alone fix up their new house in White Lake. Home Depot is now stepping up to make their house a home.
Built by her grandfather, Melanie Propatnik said three generations of her family lived at a house in south Warren before drugs, blight and burglars invaded their neighborhood.
When her husband, First Lieutenant Joseph Propatnik was away at training, Melanie and her 13-year-old daughter no longer felt safe.
"I'd have a shotgun because I was ready," she said.
It got so bad, they decided to move out to the country and bought a house in White Lake. It was a foreclosure, so they knew they had some work to do, but an inspection never revealed some of the underlying problems. Before her husband could get to some of those big projects, he was deployed to Afghanistan.
"I didn't know what we were going to do. At least we have a roof over our head," Propatnik said. "He had gotten us somewhere safe."
They could hardly afford to make ends meet, let alone major repairs on their White Lake house. The bathroom had been gutted. They needed a new roof, new doors and it wasn't even safe to walk on the porch.
Home Depot in Farmington Hills found out and decided to help.
"We put up a sign-up sheet asking who'd be willing to help out, and we've had 25 people volunteer and willing to give their time to come out here and help," said Dennis Sanders.
Employees have been working to not only make the house livable again, but a place where this family only dreamed they would live. After knocking out the major projects, they installed new tile in the kitchen, a bathtub and even put up a 20 foot flagpole so they could fly Old Glory in honor of Propatnik's husband.
"It's kind of like a paradise. When you think of a paradise, you think of something that you dream of. This is basically my paradise," said daughter Bridgette Monahan.
"How grateful they are for what we're doing," Sanders said. "A good feeling. I mean, it's the least we can do for what he's doing for us over there."
"They've gone above and beyond," said Propatnik.
Every day the mother and daughter pray their solider will return safe. They are looking forward to when they can spend time together again as a family in their new and improved home.
Melanie Propatnik (Credit: MyFox Detroit)
