A Community Organizer’s Forever Home

Jul 2, 2024 | Inspiring Stories

a woman stands beside her stove
Linda Taylor is a leader within her Minneapolis community. Her efforts to purchase her home of 19 years from a neglectful landlord were boosted by a groundswell of support from her neighbors. They gathered over 500 petition signatures to demand that her lease termination process be halted with transfer of ownership to her. Known as “Miss Linda” to her neighbors, she is everyone’s grandma. Linda is so beloved by her community that they organized meetings with elected officials, contacted media, and held fundraisers to partner with Linda to successfully purchase her “forever home.”

A retired drywaller furloughed from her last job as an intergenerational specialist at the start of the pandemic, Linda is also an accomplished artist who sells her watercolor paintings at local galleries. She raised five children and is a can-do woman who now experiences significant pain in her ankles, knees, and shoulders due to the challenging physical work she did for many years.

At 72, she is seeking to create a safe living environment that will enable her to remain independent in her home and continue to make art, spend time with her children and grandchildren, and contribute to her local community.

Making Linda’s Home Accessible and Secure

Linda contacted Age Well at Home with the goal to make her kitchen more accessible, increase her home security, and improve safe access to her home.

The Age Well at Home team conducted an intake interview with Linda to assess her needs and better understand her capabilities and limitations. Linda shared that she loved her home and had taken very good care of it for 18 years, purchasing all of the appliances, paying for utilities, and investing her own sweat equity into a house that was neglected by its owner.

An Age Well at Home on-site visit determined that:

  • Linda’s oven, microwave and refrigerator were breaking down, becoming unsafe to use and expensive due to being highly energy inefficient.
  • She lacked adequate storage space for her pots, pans, and cooking utensils and found it difficult to stoop down on the floor to access them.
  • The front and back storm doors were in extreme disrepair and leaked cold air into the home.
  • There was no railing on the back door stairway entrance leading to the backyard garden and gathering space.
a woman stands next to a cabinet. The door is open and the shelves are overflowing with things

In August 2022 the Age Well at Home team purchased and installed a new stove, microwave and refrigerator as well as built new kitchen cabinet pull-outs. Both front and back storm doors were replaced and a sturdy new railing was installed on her back stairs entrance.

“I Felt Listened To”

Linda expressed deep gratitude for all of the modifications that make her feel safer and more comfortable in her home.

  • She can now safely exit to the backyard to host gatherings with friends and family and work in her garden.
  • The new front and back storm doors lock securely and increase energy efficiency and heat cost savings.
  • The new refrigerator is smaller, more energy efficient, and easier for her to move (due to her arthritis) and clean behind.
  • She loves to cook and can now do so safely on her new stove, which also has a self-cleaning feature that saves wear and tear on her body.
  • The microwave enables her to heat things up quickly when she doesn’t have the energy to cook.
  • The new cabinet pull-out shelves save shelving space and allow her to reach her kitchen items without getting on her hands and knees.
a smiling woman stands beside her new refrigerator

“I felt listened to by the Age Well at Home team, and I was allowed to be part of the solution.” – Linda Taylor

As a result, Linda’s “forever home” will be safer, more comfortable and more energy efficient for years to come.