Lancaster, PA – Fostering, adopting, and loving on their community is just a small piece of what makes this family deserving of a new roof from The Exterior Company’s initiative Under One Roof. Chris, an Australian native, and his wife, Michelle who is originally from Lancaster, have called this area home since 2008. Chris, currently serves as Executive Director of Advoz and Michelle is a full-time stay-at-home mom for their wonderful children. Both have spent countless hours serving in their churches, volunteering in the community, and Chris stepping in as a volunteer Head Coach for the Hempfield Junior Varsity Boys Rugby Team.
After learning of their struggle to have children, the Wendens turned to foster care and adoption to build their family. Chris states “We always wanted to adopt at least one child, so when we couldn’t have any on our own we turned to foster care, where we were able to bring 3 beautiful children into our family and most recently a 4th biological sibling through private adoption.”
Building a safe, loving home is something that Chris and Michelle have always strived to provide for their family. “We’ve been hoping for a replacement to our roof for 5-6 years now, and it just hasn’t happened.” During those years of waiting, Chris suffered from Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS) after a routine back surgery in which he woke up unable to move his legs. Through years of rehabilitation and additional surgery, Chris was able to walk again. However, financial and physical setbacks have hindered the family from being able to do much-needed repairs to their home – making the Wenden family a perfect candidate for a new roof.
“I’ve known Chris and his family for a while now, especially after being able to help them out with new siding this past year. I was excited to hear the news that my company had chosen Chris and his family for a new roof. It’s going to be a really special day for everyone” stated Sr. Project Manager, Melvin Kleinsasser who will be overseeing the roof and gutter replacement on Thursday, October 20th.
When asked what this roof means to the winners, Chris responded saying “The context of how we got this means more than the physical roof – it’s the fact that someone thought of us. People notice what we do, in a good way even though we don’t do what we do for rewards.”
The Wenden family will be the 2nd official recipient of TEC’s Under One Roof initiative which provides a free roof to a deserving family nominated by the community after one-thousand roof installs.
