Neighbors and Strangers Pull Together for Provo Family

Reported by Fields Moseley, KUTV Utah
Last Update: 4/06 11:02 pm

A Provo family received much needed lift from the community. The Jensen family came home to a house completely renovated that meets their needs.

Before they got there neighbors and the team from Heart2 Home added some final touches, sweeping, scrubbing and hosing off the driveway. They made two weeks of construction disappear in a few hours.

Outside the home at around 4:30, a crowd erupted into cheers.

"Oh my gosh," uttered Natalie Jensen as she exited a giant stretch SUV limosine and saw the fresh stucco and siding covering the old orange brick.

That was the shock. The awe came a few a minutes later as every room revealed a new surprise.

"Oh, it's absolutely perfect," Jensen squealed at the sight of her boys' room.

The older boys, Zach and Brady, will sleep in the shadow of Lavell Edwards stadium. A giant picture covers one wall and a scoreboard hangs on the opposite wall. It is appropriate, since BYU lineman, Jason Speredon helped get the project done.

"We had about ten or twelve guys come over and do some sheetrock and that went really fast because we were able to hold it up there on the ceiling," said Speredon.

But it wasn’t just that. Speredon knew someone with a connection to the organization Heart2Home. The group helps families like the Jensens remodel their homes when they can't do it themselves.

"I have a fairly good job, but the medical bills are overwhelming," said Nathan Jensen while sitting on the couch in their new family room. He suffers from a disease similar to Lupus called sarcoidosis. He started transforming this house last fall to accommodate their four children, two of whom have muscular dystrophy.

"So far Zack has not been able to ride his wheelchair in a house at all, and just being able to have him move around will be amazing," said Natalie fighting back tears.

The Heart2Home designers and contractors made the doors are larger, there is a bathroom that allows wheelchair access, and every child has a bed. The Jensens story brought strangers together and proves this is the house that love built.

"They are so inspiring to me," said Speredon knows the family through his LDS Ward. "Through their trials and adversity, they’ve kept a smile."